Mega Man X: An Uncertain Future
by Erico
Summary: In the beginning years of 21XX, Doctor James Cain unearths a surprising find...A Capsule, containing a Prototype Robot known as Mega Man X...
1. Prologue

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MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

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PROLOGUE

In the wilds of Japan lay vast fields of nothingness, ground forgotten by time. Because of this, this site, and other ones like it were hallowed ground for archaeologists. Undisturbed soil meant that ancient fossils and plants would be in good condition. 

Such was the case on the fateful day of April 9, 21XX. A large convoy of hovercrafts skimmed the ground lightly, blowing dust in every direction. This place had been hit by volcanic ash, and the brown mixed with gray blackish dust. The convoy stopped and the vehicle's inhabitants emerged. But one was out first, an older man with gray hair and a beard. But this did not stop him. He breathed the air heavily, smiling as the sun beat down on him. He turned to his people and their robot assistants.

"All right people. Set up camp. Jim, I'll need you to set out the prelim gridwork." A man with brown hair and a younger age smiled at his mentor. Jim Dacker was the youngest worker in Dr. Cain's troupe. Their goal was to find fossils to prove Cain's theory on Mesozoic plant life, one which he had hypothesized by previous finds. Cain walked with a light step. He had been in his field since he got out of college, and his constant strain had kept him in fine shape. Some said he had found the Fountain of Youth, but whenever Cain heard it he laughed. "If I had found it, I would sell it!" was always his joking reply. 

Jim Dacker turned his laptop on and activated the robotic probe that scanned their search area, grid by grid. Humans always went in to do the fine digging, for robots had never held the ability to work by senses, just pure mathematical data. The probe completed the scan and sent the information back to Jim's computer. Jim raised his eyebrows. Cain saw it and walked over to him.

"What's up, Jim?" Jim turned to his leader and spoke softly, probably too softly, seeing as the other worker robots were setting up camp and were always very loud.

"It seems the probe has found something metallic buried in grid E-46. Probably some old volcanic deposit." Cain smiled again.

"First rule of archaeology. If something seems odd, then it's important. I'll start there." Cain walked back to his tent, just as a robot finished putting up his bed. 

"Your tent is ready, Dr. Cain." The robot spoke, in a monotne voice. Cain nodded. He walked in and picked up his voice diary.

"April 9th, 21XX. We've set up camp at the new site and laid out the preliminary gridwork for the dig. I got some odd readings at location E-46. It looks like something metallic is buried there, several meters below the surface. I think I'll begin there tomorrow." Cain clicked off his mike and went to sleep.

Little did he realize that time itself had been waiting for him to arrive.


	2. Lost And Found

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MEGA MAN: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

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CHAPTER ONE: LOST AND FOUND

Cain awoke the next morning, and the sun was already high up in the sky, shining its brilliance down upon him. He groaned and rubbed the particles of dust from his eyes. His dream was a pleasant one, but what it was about eluded him. Of course, happy dreams almost always left without a trace of their cause. He got up and put on his clothes. Cleanliness was not always a priority when you would be sweating by eleven in the morning.

Walking over to the mess tent, Cain sat down. The server robot rolled to his table and plopped out a cooked tray of breakfast. Cain smiled wanly as he began to devour his morning energy, taking a long draw from his water glass. The others at the table grumbled slow g'mornings, then went back to their food. In the morning, no one was very talkative. They were night people, and it showed in their work. Jim Dacker had already finished his breakfast and was placing the trays in the bin, where the cleaner robots would take care of the dishes. Thanks to the wonders of technology, all dishes were either long-lasting ceramics or a biodegradable plastic/paper compound. It was quite a step, and mankind was taking steps to redeem itself for its earlier eco-threatening actions.

After the brief period of silence, they all walked out into the field, and the quiet was broken by the sounds of careful digging, robotic noises of every sort, flying scanners, hoverjeeps taking diggers to their areas, and other such things. Where Cain headed was smack in the middle of the giant gridwork, E-46. He would see just what was buried underneath the ground that sent the scanners on full alert. 

Each grid was a hundred feet square, and that meant weeks could be spent on a single one if things looked promising. Cain's straw brimmed hat, purchased from a native tribe in Africa during a search for the missing link covered his tender skin from the sun. It was amazing to think how such an object of beauty, power and necessity could also be harmful. Not as much so as when the ozone was depleted back during the late 20thCentury, but still it was a cause for alarm. Medical research had long ago proved that UV rays and other forms of high-powered waves were dangerous to humans, and could possibly even cause cancer. For that reason, Cain and his group were always very careful when they went on long trips like this. Solar stills and other water gathering equipment were prevalent, for the body could go months without food, but only a few days before lack of liquid caused you to become poisoned by your own bodies' wastes. 

The hoverjeep slowed to a halt and Cain jumped out lightly. With him he took his stick, which he used for digging and help when traveling over rough terrain. But he was not limp, and so he did not use it all the time. People joked he did, but Cain would always smack them over the head with it and challenge them to a marathon. Cain couldn't run a full marathon, but he could keep up as well as the next physically fit fifty-year old. Cain waved to the robot driver inside, and the jeep flew off. Cain put his bag down. Inside were three two-liter water canteens, a sack lunch and a sleeping bag, just in case he kept digging until all hours of the night. 

He brushed his forehead with a yellow bandanna he had found in Tokyo. It was strange that someone would leave such a valuable keepsake just lying around. Of course, it had been tattered and frayed, with mud and debris covering it all up. Only by an emergency trip to the cleaners did Cain save it and reveal its bright banana yellow sheen to the world once more. It was now always with him, being able to serve many purposes. The strange part about it was that it seemed impervious to wear, outside of the wear it had already received.

But he turned to the ground and pulled out his portable scanner. Clicking it on, it showed he would find something about five meters below. Cain turned it off and then grabbed his stick, viciously attacking the ground with it. 

He would find what was underneath the ground, even if it took him several days.

Work was slow, for Cain and the other workers had to take several breaks to rehydrate. The sun was beating down on them mercilessly, and if they didn't exhaustion and other maladies would be afflicting them. But Cain still pressed on, even working late into the night. The ash and rock where he was digging was especially tough, and not willing to give up its secrets. It was late that night on April 9th , and Cain had been going at it hard. This was his way of working, and some said it was harmful. 

Truth being, it was. But Cain had an odd personality. When he found something, he trailed it and followed it until he could claim it in its entirety. You could call it the no-quitter syndrome, or just pure stubbornness. Either way, that was what Cain was like. And no one could convince him differently. 

It was like that now, at nine. But still Cain continued. He did not even pay heed to the soft whine of a hoverjeep driving up next to him. Out of the jeep stepped Jim Dacker. Cain looked up, a frown on his face. Jim raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey, I'm not gonna tell you to to quit, OK? I've known you long enough to know that won't work. I just brought some food for you." Cain looked over. There in the hoverjeep was a bag of food. Cain got up.

"I guess I could use a snack. So, what did you bring?" Jim smiled.

"Your favorite. Spinach Artichoke dip on rye crackers." He picked up the bag and dropped it to the ground. From it he pulled a package of crackers and two containers of greenish dip, still warm in their plastic containers. Cain opened one immediately and downed a spoonful with no verbal banter. Jim chuckled.

"Fine, you're welcome." Cain looked up, his face covered in apology and dip. Jim opened the cracker pack and handed one to Cain. "So, what exactly do you think is here?" Cain thought for a moment and gulped down his cracker.

"Honestly, I don't think I could give an educated guess. Perhaps it is a gold deposit, spewed out by the volcanic activity that happened some years ago. Maybe some rare metal that will change the world industry." Cain smiled. "Either way, we get the glory." Jim chuckled as he swallowed a cracker sandwich.

"You got that right, Doc. Archaeology kicks ass." Cain smiled. Jim Dacker was one of the few youngsters he could talk to freely without fear of alienation. "I think it'll be an alien probe that is just now going to be discovered." Cain gave him a look, and Jim raised his eyebrows.

"What?" Cain took a drink from his second canteen.

"To you, EVERYTHING is of alien origin."

"And who's to say WE AREN'T?" Cain laughed again.

"Oh, just stop it right there. If you get any further into it, you'll spill dip all over yourself. As a matter of fact, you already did." Jim looked down, his face turning red. A big blotch of the dip had placed itself on his shirt. Cain yawned.

"I'm going to hit the sack. Just leave yours here with me in case I get hungry." Jim wiped the snack from his shirt and nodded. 

"All right, doc. Sleep tight, and remember to activate the cooling cycle on those containers. Don't want you to get food poisoning." Jim walked over to the hoverjeep and drove off, leaving a cloud of dust hanging in the air behind him. Cain pressed a blue button on both container lids, and they instantly became fogged up as the temperature dropped to 40 Degrees. He pulled out his sleeping bag and curled up inside of it. 

Before he shut his eyes, he looked over to his hole and his stick.

"So what secrets do you hide, my hole?" he muttered. His eyes fluttered shut and a soft snoring noise overcame the dig site.

Cain was digging in the hole again, and the sun had resumed its destructive course on his body. But the perspiring archaeologist kept on digging. His goal was within his reach. Just then, he hit something hard. He stopped and cleared the dirt away from it. What he saw was a dark black metal, shiny but worn and tarnished. With a mighty swing, he drove his pickaxe through the barrier. But when he did, a sudden force blew him backwards several feet. Something had pushed him. He got up, and what he saw standing over the hole was a dark figure, with black smoke coming off its body.

"Oh my God…"Cain whispered. He had unleashed a demon. Then the figure turned and looked at him with hollow eyes that shone a dark purple. The demon leaped from his position, charging at Cain with incredible speed. And Cain screamed.

He woke up in a cold sweat. The sun was already shining brightly. Cain wiped the perspiration from his face and climbed out of his sleeping bag. 

"Just a dream. Just a dream." Cain said to himself. But no matter how many times he said it, the vision had still shaken him terribly. He looked at the hole. It almost spoke to him, whispering pleas of escape. Had something terrible been buried there? Had his dream meant to warn him? 

Cain couldn't think, his stomach was growling. He walked over to his backpack and pulled out the leftover spinach artichoke dip, as well as a fresh canteen of water Jim had brought.

He would let his stomach feed first. His curiosity would handle the dessert.

By ten, Cain was hard at work again. His stick had gotten down to four meters, and his scanner showed him he only had another meter to clear. He picked up his comm and called the main camp.

"Cain here. Get the finishing crew here. I'm just about through the ground."

"Roger, Doctor. Jim Dacker and the others will be with you shortly." Cain turned the power off and returned to his hole. 

His dream had given him plenty to think about, but archaeologists are not known for their premonitions. He couldn't just leave the hole be, he had to see what was there. Cain had always been like that, from the time when he was three and he climbed into the washing machine by accident. Cain smiled to himself.

"Here I am, possibly on the biggest prehistoric discovery, and what am I thinking about? Washing machines." Cain chuckled a bit, but he became quiet as the soft whining noise of the camp's hoverjeeps rolled into his area. Cain turned and stood up, using his stick to help him gain lifting leverage. Jim climbed out, followed by the burly men that made up the finishing crew. When they were close to their goal, the finishing crew would take over and to the final digging. Truth be told, because they were led by Harold, they were very efficient. Harold was a stickler for timeliness.

"We'll take over, doc." One of Harold's men said. Cain could see they had come from another area, for their clothes were already sweat soaked. Harold pulled out a few shovels, the most basic of all digging utensils and handed them out. They created a circle around the hole, then simultaneously began to shove the heavy blades into the ashen dirt. Clouds of volcanic dust, long since laid to rest, flew into the air, and Cain had to cover his mouth. The teams kept at it, until finally they hit something hard and their shovels stopped flinging.

"Well well. Hey Cain, you weren't too far off on your measurements! We've struck metal." Harold uttered. Cain harrumphed in confirmation.

"It's too close to the surface to be prehistoric…it's gotta be something recent."

"But how recent could it be, doc?" Jim uttered, scratching his head.

"Well, considering the volcanic activity around this area not too long ago…I'd say about from the year 20XX, thereabouts. We could be witness to a home from that time period…" The implications were enormous to Cain. "Think about it, people! A perfect example of life, encapsulized by the volcanic eruption! This is indeed a rare find!"

"But people might have died here, doc." Jim spoke sadly. Many citizens of this area had perished in the blast. Cain bowed his head.

"If you all could join me in a prayer, let's pay our respects to those who gave their lives to nature's fury." All at the site bowed their heads, each speaking to the victims in their own special way of religion. The silence was unbearable, only further pointing out to the dig team how somber this place was. Finally, Cain lifted his head.

"Thank you all. Now…let's get to work! Get those specialized drills in here. Once we have the hole open…I'm going in."

Cain had found something. 

And the day was April 10, 21XX.

"All right, I'm hopping down now. Jim, you getting a good picture?" Cain spoke with an air of confidence, but as he rappeled down the rope into the cavernous buried room below, he asked for assurance he did not face this venture alone.

"Roger boss. Picture's five by five." Jim's voice soothed his jumpy nerves, but did nothing for his racing heart. The thrill of the chase was Cain's favorite thing in life, and he was experiencing it yet again.

"All right, what do we have here?" Cain mused as he raised a portable scanner. Instantly, dimensional figures popped on the luminescent screen. "Base, this construction looks to be like a normal house design of the time…" Cain blinked at the screen as it displayed another blip beside it. "…But there also seems to be an odd egg shaped facility on the side. Everything's kinda beat up pretty badly. Air's breatheable, however. Those air exchangers are doing the trick!" Cain chuckled as he was calmed by the gentle hiss and pump of a hydraulic air compressor that pumped out the volcanic gases and replaced the buried building with a breathable Oxygen/Nitrogen mix.

"Well, what do you expect, doc? This place WAS covered in volcano guts!" Jim chortled. "Can you reach the floor?"

"Yeah…hold on for release….NOW!" Cain stretched his legs as far as they would go, and then his rope slackened. With a medium thump, Cain landed in the middle of the room and hit his helmet light. A powerful white/yellow beam of light illuminated the room, and Cain whistled.

The design of the house was very aesthetically pleasing, and whoever had owned it had kept it well cleaned…until the volcano destroyed it. Paintings…some blackened slightly hung from the walls, but one wall had caved in a bit. The couch was blue, the carpet was white, and the walls…well, minus the scorch marks…were intricately covered in exquisite wallpaper, the pictures showing classical flower designs.

"Base, if you're reading this, then the people here had good tastes! All this stuff is materials thieves would have loved to get their hands on. I'm moving down further. Gonna check out that egg-shaped place." Cain kept his radio on, but stopped talking and moved his scanner about, guiding him through the destroyed homestead.

The door took a while to push open, but eventually Cain got past the rusty opening to the egg dome. What he found surprised him.

"Hey base, you picking this up?" Cain asked, clicking the side of his comm.

"Roger that, doc. Can you identify this?" Cain looked around. Could he? Old computer monitors and processors jutted out everywhere. Most were destroyed, the heat having warped them or the dust having choked them to death. A few machines were even smashed to pieces, crushed by sections of wall that had fallen in.

"This place was quite a techie zone, I can tell you that much. But not even this place was spared the incredible anger of Mount Fuji. Hold on a sec…I think I can boot up one of the computers here." At least Cain thought he could. This place ran under its own power, for a few light fixtures flickered occasionally, bringing a shower of sparks that clattered on the ground fruitlessly. With an uneasy gait, Cain tiptoed through the rubble and over to a monitor. He delicately pushed the button on the monitor's bottom, which activated it and whatever it was hooked up to.

"Hey base, this computer is a dino! Looks like it had a CD-R drive. But the things booting up." Flickering images came to life and danced across the screen. With a quick self-diagnostic, the computer monitor blinked to a visual desktop with the words "Lighttech" pasted across it. "A Lighttech Computer? Wow. This baby could sell for a lot to the right collector!" For generations, Lighttech computers were the choice. Lighttech in its time had spanned multiple industries from the venerable Metool Worker line to the Suitcase Eddies. Every robot and every task you could imagine…Lighttech had something for it.

"Well, what does it say?" Jim asked. Cain cursed to himself. The PC was password locked.

"I can't tell you, the dang thing is protected. Maybe the user left the codeword around somewhere…" Cain reached down and opened the cabinets around the work area. It was worth a shot. 

When he opened them, yellowed sheets of paper fluttered out, and Cain snatched them from the dusty floor. He turned his light to them, and began to read. His eyes were normal at first…but then they bulged out. Cain swiveled his head back to the computer and typed in a password. The screen clicked on and then everything opened up to him. Cain could only stare in amazement.

"Doc, what did you find?" Cain blinked his eyes and came back to reality for a moment.

"This place…it's Light's lab."

"The password was Rockman?!" Jim Dacker exclaimed in dumbfounded amazement. Cain nodded his head slowly. Even with his chief assistant with him, the utter consequences of this find were still mind-boggling. What they had found was the remains of the famous Dr. Light's Laboratory and household. No wonder the house was so well-kept up. Light's third creation Roll was a housekeeping robot, and would have undoubtedly done her job very efficiently.

"Yes, Jim. Rockman. I still don't what to make of this place." Jim let an incredibly powerful smile cross his face as he spoke up again.

"I'll tell you what this means, doc! We're talking about the greatest discovery of your life here! Most people in this field go their entire LIVES without a substantial find, and not only do you hold one of the greatest careers…you go out with a bang by discovering THIS…do you realize what kind of advancements in robotics we might find in here? Light was a pure genius!" Jim, for all his years of inexperience spoke volumes, and Cain knew he was right. Like some mythical hero of legend, Cain had just placed the final jewel in his historical crown.

"Well, from what I can make out from his notes, Light rambles a lot late in his life. Nothing too blatantly obvious, but he never stops talking about…the capsule…" Cain let the word roll off of his tongue, savoring its flavor. Jim whistled lightly. He took off his hat and scratched the full head of hair underneath.

"Geez! This sounds more like one of those suspense movies than an actual dig. I feel like we're supposed to find aliens or something." Cain chuckled. 

"The one thing you learn the hardest Jim, is that with all of your possibilities you put up to light, the one you don't even comprehend is the one that is true. Personally, I have no idea what we might find here." But Cain's overboisterous attitude served only to try and soothe his nerves. His vision…his nightmare…was still fresh in his mind. 

And no matter how hard he tried to dismiss it, it scared him.

"All right, let's get the full archaeological team down here, NOW!!! I want every part of this place catalogued and mapped out to the tiniest speck of dirt!" Cain's command shuddered through the comms quickly, and he could almost feel the people back at base camp leap out of their seats like they were sitting on a hot griddle, eager to come at his beck and call. And when he thought about where he had come, he had to laugh.

Who would have thought a simple plant archaeologist would be on one of the greatest technological and historical finds of the world?

"Hey, doc! I think I found something!" an eager tech cried out. Cain looked up from the console he'd been trying to squelch information from.

"What is it, Jonesy?" the red-headed diagnostics operator motioned his hand.

"I'm getting an unconnected energy spike!" Cain's eyebrows raised.

"An unconnected?" to Cain, that meant something had electrical power…but it wasn't connected to the laboratory main generator. With speed comparable to a high school track star, he bounded over a console and a foot of rubble, coming to a stop by Jonesy.

"Can you get anything else on it?" Jonesy shook his head.

"But whatever it is…it's underneath this part of fallen wall." Cain picked up his stick and viciously attacked the pile. Jonesy went to assist, but then a firm hand grasped his shoulder. He looked up to see Jim Dacker looking at him sternly.

"Let the doc dig. He's the reason we're even here, remember?" Jonesy and Dacker, and practically the rest of the camp work crews stopped their tasks and looked on at the sight. They all wanted to participate in the moment.

"Almost there…" Cain huffed as he jammed his stick in the chunk and lifted it like a jack. The enormous piece of wall fell away, and a cloud of volcanic dust rose up, blocking view.

"Ah, crap!" Cain grumbled as he choked on the dust for a while. He backed off and grabbed his canteen, washing down the chalky dust in his throat. "Hold on, the dust is clearing up." Cain waved his hand through the murky air and peered through squinted eyes. Slowly, a blurry light came into focus and Cain looked down.

"Well, I'll be a goddamned gold digger…" Cain spoke breathlessly, for what he saw corresponded with everything he had seen in Light's yellowed notes…the capsule, the only thing Light mentioned late in his diary, sat here, undisturbed for years.

"Holy cow…" Jim whistled as he saw it. Cain examined it with his datacorder.

"It seems to be 14 meters high by 8 meters wide. Good sized bugger…this has to be the capsule that Light was talking about!" Everyone in the room started clapping and cheering at the discovery, but Cain was still in shock from it all. "Hold on, there's something else here. Hello…a message?" Cain furrowed his pensive eyebrows and motioned for Jim to come over. Jim wiped off the dirt from the viewpad on the side of the capsule and Cain peered at it.

"It's a warning! The darned thing's flashing red. Hold on, I'll try to make it out."

'X is the first of a new generation of robots, blessed with the ability to think, feel and make their own decisions…a thirty year testing period will be required to see if X is reliable…X holds great promise as well as great danger...I can only hope for the best.'

Cain stood up from his perch and examined the rest of the capsule. His hand traced along a row of flashing green lights, and then he spoke again.

"It seems the diagnostic just got finished. Everything's green." 

"A robot…that can think?" Jim pondered. Everyone in the room stood silently, wondering what this capsule might mean. Cain finally shook his head and sighed.

"I think we've seen enough. Tomorrow, we'll open the capsule, all right?" Cain's words were short, but very stern. "Jim, I'm entrusting you to guard this thing until tomorrow." Jim nodded and arranged the slab of wreckage to act like a bench. Cain gave a whistle, and a rope came down from the hole in the laboratory ceiling.

"All right, everyone. Let's get back to base. Jim'll guard this place until we get back. There's still a lot to be done, and I want each and every one of you at full stamina. Clear?" Everyone gave a nod of approval and began to shuffle up the rope. Cain reached in his pocket and plucked out his recordable diary.

"April 13, 21XX. I found it. Standing 14 meters high and 8 meters wide, the capsule was hidden underneath a collapsed ceiling. Even underneath all the rubble, the capsule has remained intact and was still running some sort of diagnostic when I found it. There is a warning on the capsule, but all the indicators show green. It should be safe to open it. I'll know tomorrow." 

Cain clicked the receiver off and put it back in his pocket, then with a shake of his grizzled head he climbed out the hole to go catch a night's rest at camp.

Needless to say, neither Cain nor anyone else at camp caught much sleep that night, and all had excuses to go walking around the grid of E-46.

"I left my tools there!"

"I'm almost sure there was something we missed…"

"Leave it to my friend to accidentally leave his canteen…" And every time, Jim would send them back, grumbling. Finally, he'd called Cain and Cain helped him keep watch. But it was morning, and Cain's eyes jolted open with a start. All of the caff they'd ingested last night was catching up to them, and the merry chirpings of a lark pounded in their skulls like jackhammers.

"Whoever created morning birds deserve to be shot…" Jim grumbled as he got up and checked the hole. It had been left alone, and the protective plastic was unbroken.

"Well, it's good to know we don't have any blatant rule-breakers in the outfit." Cain sighed, rubbing his sore temple. Jim nodded.

"Ah, they're an okay bunch. Just lively enough to be a pain in the kiester."

"And you're not?!" Cain chuckled. "Come on, let's sound the morning bell and get them in here. I doubt they'll even stop for breakfast."

And once again, Cain's prediction came true. Within five minutes of the wakeup bell, the entire dig team was on the site, scrabbling about, asking questions and making bets on what they might find. Cain found it hard to believe for all their experience and maturity, this tightly knit cluster of individuals could sometimes be no better than a graduating class in high school.

"All right, everyone. Please quiet down. I'll go down first. Seeing as there's not enough room, I'll be alone. You will be able to see what I discover on the vidcam in my Metool unit." Cain stopped and chuckled. A fellow robot of Light's design would help him to uncover another. Like two brothers meeting at long last…only one obviously was more powerful. 

It wasn't that far to reach the capsule, but to Cain it seemed like an eternity. All their waiting had come down to this, for when they opened the capsule…nothing would be the same. Cain approached it, its blue hue, the pulsating red battery at the top…and he stared at it for a while, remembering with a sudden fear his terrifying vision of the demon that had emerged from the ground. But Light would never create such a thing…surely it was safe.

Curiosity won over his inhibitions, and Cain pressed the airlock button the side. The middle section of the capsule activated as the cylinder split open, two equal doors sliding back into the capsule. What Cain saw…took his breath away. 

Like a sleeping juggernaut, it slept. A blue juggernaut, with a red crystal in his helmet, and a placid face. A face of a young teenage boy. This was truly a robot of Light's, for what Cain saw bore a striking resemblance to Mega Man, the protector of peace in the years of 200X to 20XX. It slept easily, but Cain could see its breathing become shorter and shorter as the capsule's auto-wake up sequence began. Finally, the robot's eyes fluttered open and he looked up dozily at his new world. They focused on Cain with a look of puzzlement and intrigue…like a newborn examining his world for the first time. Perhaps that was what this being was…a newborn robot in a new world. 

The robot shifted his head to look at himself. His eyes traced down the length of his hand and to his boots, blue in color. His entire frame was a staunch blue of every imaginable hue, and to Cain it seemed as if Mega Man had leaped from the pages of the history tapes to enter this capsule. Then, the robot lifted his head and looked at Cain. It was questioning him or pleading with him, Cain could not be sure. 

"Hello there…I am Doctor Cain." Cain let a smile cross his face, and for all that was different, he almost felt like he was delivering a newborn at the hospital. "Who are you?" The robot stared blankly at him for several moments, his lips moving silently. Then, with a firm tone, he said,

"I…I am Mega Man X."

"April 14, 21XX. Today I met X." Cain said into his audio diary unit. He was strolling about his tent, while X shuffled through document after document of historical records from Cain's computer. Cain shook his head at the eager student and continued. "Not simply a robot, X is something totally different. Light has given him the ability to think and make his own decisions. At times, X seems more like a man than a machine." Just then, X looked up from the screen and looked at Cain.

"Input! Need more input!" Cain clicked off the unit and walked over to the computer.

"Or, perhaps not. I feel like I'm living in that old movie…what was that, where the robot thinks he's alive?" Cain's answer was eluding him, and it was frustrating.

"Short Circuit, late 20th Century Film. Starring Steve Guttenburg." X's answer was long and far from helpul, and Cain felt a bit miffed.

"Thanks a lot, X. Here's some more data for you." Cain plugged in the third data tape and the information scrolled onscreen. "Your bedside manner needs some adjusting. You are the most…annoying…thing I've met. You're human enough to be a pain, but not enough to actually have the manners of one." Cain let out a sigh and shrugged. X mimicked his movement, then went back to scanning the data. 

Hundreds of years of historical, literary, military, scientific and other knowledge was being scanned into X's memory, and Cain couldn't help but wonder about it.

"How much memory do you have in your processor, X?" The blue…X turned his head and looked at Cain.

"I have a fifteen Terabyte Memory and Control Chip. Currently, 95% of that is being used for storage purposes. Of that, I have used 200 Megabytes of the information scanned…"

"All right, X! that's enough. I wish I hadn't asked." X winced and said something that struck Cain so completely out of what X had been acting like.

"Sorry." Cain whirled around and stared at X for a moment, scrutinizing him. Had he just said something…human? An emotion…remorse? Light's warning HAD said X could feel…just how human was he?

"X, I wonder about you…" Cain mumbled. "I'm getting hungry. I'll be back in fifteen minutes. Can you take care of things here?" X looked up with a blank and disinterested stare, then dropped his head back.

"Affirmative. And if you eat eggs, make sure they are thoroughly cooked." Cain laughed.

"X, the salmonella problem was taken care of YEARS ago. There isn't any danger." X nodded.

"I see. Perhaps I should read more of these files to gain a better understanding of what are current hot topics."

"Well, X, at the moment in this camp-you're one of them." X raised his eyebrow, with so much delicacy, Cain could almost think X had been born doing it like that. When in fact, he had just learned how to.

"Intriguing. Why should I be an object of concern?"

"Well…nobody's ever seen anything like you before. You are a very odd screw in a sea of nails."

"Metaphor. Such an interesting part of literature. Doctor Cain, may I may an observation?" Cain leaned back against the main post of the tent and nodded, wondering what this new creature might have to say with everything it had learned.

"It sucks to be human." X said it so plainly, that the message almost lost all meaning. But to Cain, it fully sunk in, and he laughed in agreement. He walked over and slapped X on the back. X winced at the light blow, but said nothing.

"X, my boy, there may be hope for you yet."

"April 15, 21XX." Cain paused for a moment as he fully examined the computer screen in the buried remains of Light's lab. "Light was a genius! I've been going over his design notes and they are a quantum leap beyond anything the world has ever seen. Using them as a guide, I may be able to replicate his design and integrate them into a new generation of robots. I'll begin transporting X and the rest of Dr. Light's things back to my lab tomorrow." Cain shook his head. So much had happened in the past few days, it felt like a whirlwind to him.

"I don't know if this is Oz…or something else." A simple query on 'X' had turned up every piece of Light's notes. X was examining it as well, thoroughly interested.

"Doc.." X had taken to calling Cain by what everyone else called him. "Doc, how do you think you'll be able to build a new generation of robots? You're an archaeologist for cryin' out loud!" It had taken X a while, but slowly he was gaining emotions, thinking processes…in short, X was learning. Learning like a human did. By experiencing. Cain shook his head.

"To be honest, X…I don't know. But what I do know is I don't trust anyone else. Light was fully correct when he said there were benefits and dangers to robots like you. And I don't want to take that chance." Cain finished speaking as the floppy popped out of the disk drive, holding all of the data on X's systems. He held it up, looking at it like a jeweler scrutinizes his diamonds. "And this little disk holds the key to it all."

"I see. So, why did you bother to activate me then?" X queried. Cain smiled.

"Humans are terrible when it comes to holding back curiosity. I suppose we just felt we had to. And I'm not sad of the outcome. We gave life to you, didn't we? Tell me, X. If you could go back to when I opened your capsule…would you stop me?" X furrowed his brow for a moment, then shook his head.

"Negative. The need for self-preservation is great. I would not stop you." Cain smiled.

"Congratulations, X. You've once again made yet another decision on your own. You are beyond robots because of that." Cain slapped X on the back and picked up his stick. X frowned.

"Your habit of rough physical contact with my back is very annoying. I must ask you to stop doing that." Cain harrumphed.

"All right. I suppose I'll have to think of another way to bug you then." An idea flashed in his head, and he swung his stick wildly in the air, bringing it crashing down hard upon X's helmet.

"OW!!!" X cried as he reached for his bruised head. Cain laughed.

"I like this better!" X grumbled, but didn't dignify the prank with a response. X supposed it was something he would have to get used to.


	3. Birth of The Reploids

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

****

CHAPTER TWO: BIRTH OF THE REPLOIDS

"X…X, he's waking up."

"Yes, I see it. You don't have to be Mr. Obvious!" the creature's eyes were blurry, and light shined into it painfully. He could make out two dark blobs above him, but nothing more. Something was speaking to him…not like the two blobs did, but quieter.

"I…am Cancer." Suddenly, his vision shifted and he could identify colors. One was blue, and the other was a dim pink and white. The blue one turned to the other and spoke.

"He seems to be working fine. Congrats, doc. You've done it!"

"Yes…my first 'reploid.' At long last, our months of work have paid off!" Cancer's vision shifted again, and then he could make out lines and depth. He looked down from the blobs, and then he realized he was looking at himself.

"This is me?" the blue figure turned to him and smiled.

"Correct, Cancer. I am Mega Man X, and this is Doctor Cain…your creator. You are the very first reploid."

"Reploid…" Cancer let it roll off his tongue, feeling its power. Reploid? What was a reploid? And who were these two?

"I assume you'll have quite a few questions." X chuckled. "I know I did. Here…" X pointed behind him to a computer. "This is a computer. It holds everything you'll need to know. History, speech, language…basic information that will help you to get along with humans."

"Humans?"

"I am a human." Cain heckled. He bowed. "Cancer, X is going to stay with you for a while. I have to go check on some other things. I'll be back in a while." Cancer nodded slowly. All of this was still new, but he felt comforted by X's presence. Cain picked up his stick and walked out of the room. Cancer shook his head.

"This is all strange…" X laid his hand on Cancer's shoulder and smiled warmly.

"All you need to know until you access that computer is this; you are among friends. And there is nothing to be afraid of."

"Friends…" Cancer smiled back. "I like that."

"So, Cancer. You've chosen to join us." Cain laughed as he saw the yellow being stumble out of his room, X gingerly holding him steady. Cancer nodded.

"Doctor Cain, right? Species Homo Sapiens." Cancer squinted, but came up with a perfectly reasonable answer. Cain buried his head in his hands and shook his head.

"Oh well, can't win 'em all." X chuckled.

"He's doing better than I did. After all, he's moving, right?" Cain nodded. X and Cancer…they were like newborn babies when they were activated. Left to gain their own experiences in life…like a human. Perhaps that was part of them making their own decisions. Cancer put on an expression of puzzlement.

"Did I say something wrong?" X shook his head.

"Not for being two hours old, no. Cain, now what?" Cain shook his head.

"Now…now we spread the word." X nearly coughed on air, as he stared at Cain.

"WHAT?!" Cain nodded.

"You heard me. The press is already hounding the outside of this place, wanting to know what I uncovered on the dig. I wish I knew who spilled the beans on that." Cain clenched his fist. "If we don't do something soon, none of us will see daylight again. I'm afraid that this time…the truth will set us free."

"So…how do we do that?" X queried, tapping his arm impatiently.

"Simple…we call a press conference."

"Doctor Cain! What have you found?"

"Doctor, what impact does this discovery have on current events?"

"Doctor, did you find an alien space egg?" Cain frowned at the last question. He stood outside his lab, waving his arms furiously. Jim stood on the podium, and flashes blasted from everywhere. The press was acting like sharks…but then again they always did.

"People, please sit down. Now, the good Doctor will make his remarks very soon. Just sit down and stop asking questions. You can query him after he has finished his statement." Jim sighed and shook his head. He'd been playing mediator for these goons the past few days, and it was wearing him out. He turned and motioned to the doctor, pleading with Cain to release him from his torment. Cain smiled. He approached the podium, and everyone went silent. Cain cleared his throat, and then picked up a glass of water, taking a long pull from it.

"Years ago, Japan was overriden with the infamous Mount Fuji eruption. Many people died, and many things became buried in its wake. My archaeological team had been digging in that area earlier this year, searching for evidence to prove my findings about Mesozoic plant life. Needless to say, that is not what we found." Cain stopped and looked at them. They all sat silently, not knowing what to expect. Cain chuckled. The hammer blow would be felt around the world soon enough. As a matter of fact, this entire event was being televised live.

"I began digging in one section of our area in early April. Eventually, we came across a cavernous area and found it to be a housing unit. A house that belonged to a very prominent person in the past…Dr. Thomas Light." Suddenly, the calmed crows of reporters and cameramen went bonkers. Shouts rage forth, cameras flashed and focus lens zoomed in. Cain raised his hands, forcing his natural reaction to give them the bird and send them on their way.

"Lousy stinkin' newsies…" Cain muttered. "ALL RIGHT!!! EVERYONE SIDDOWN AND SHADDUP OR I END THIS NOW!!!" Even if they weren't under Cain's command, they listened. Cain held a powerful voice, and an even stronger temperament that few individuals messed with.

"Good. If you keep really quiet, I'll hand you all lollipops after naptime!" Cain grumbled. He coughed again, and then continued. "Anyways, on the day of April 13, we came across something in the rubble of his laboratory. It was a capsule with the dimensions of 8 by 14 meters. We waited a day, and then opened it. Inside, we found something that would change the world. What Light had left entombed in the capsule was a robot." Some of the reporters shot up, but Cain yelled at them.

"I DID NOT ASK YOU TO ASK QUESTIONS YET!!! YOU ARE THIS CLOSE TO LOSING THE STORY OF THE CENTURY!!!" Cain smoothed out his wrinkled coat and took another drink of water.

"No, this robot was not Mega Man, or any other creation of his that we know about from our past. What we found in the capsule was a totally different robot…blessed with abilities that many of us in the world would have never thought possible. This robot is known as Mega Man X. And what is more surprising…is that he is as close to human as a robot can get." Cain let the blow fall, but he saw the puzzled looks everywhere.

"Mega Man X can think, feel, and make his own decisions. As a matter of fact, if you met him in the streets when he wasn't in his armor, you would easily mistake him for a young boy. X, would you come out here?" Cain turned to the door of his lab, and it slowly creaked open. A figure emerged, that of X. He walked down the steps, an uneasy smile on his face. He waved a hand in greeting, and moved next to Cain, standing as tall as Cain did. The reporters looked on in awe, but still felt skeptical. Cain nudged X towards the podium, where he laughed.

"It's okay, I don't bite! Really. So, what do you want to know?" A few reporters got up with their notepads.

"X…tell us, how do you…"the reporter snickered a bit, causing a low rumble of chuckles throughout the pavilion, "FEEL today?" X smiled.

"Well, the sun's shining, so I'd say I felt just as good as a flower blooming in Spring…if this wasn't Winter." True enough, it was now late November. The answer causes many to nod, but there was still doubt in their minds. Any robot if programmed well enough could use a pre-programmed answer.

"All right, X. Tell me, what do you think of art? Who's your favorite artist?" X nodded.

"Michelangelo. Although I bet he had a sore back after that Chapel gig!" X laughed loudly at his own joke, unsettling some. A robot that laughed? Was all of this really true? The final reporter had a more direct question to settle the dispute once and for all.

"X…can you prove that you're not human?" X sighed. 

"I like to think I'm close to it, but yes I can." X clenched his left hand and frowned. "I really don't like doing this by the way." With that, his hand vanished back into his arm as something else emerged…the bulge that many had taken as a part of his arm was in fact…a plasma gun. The final piece, the barrel end jutted out at last and it suddenly became clear to everyone that this was no scam…this was real. X raised his left arm and fired a shot for show, cringing at the noise it made. "This is my X-Buster, and it was in my systems when I was activated. I can make it appear…and vanish…"X sighed and let his hand slip back into view, his menacing Buster disappearing, "Whenever I want it to. But what you all should know is that the story doesn't end there…" X motioned for Cain to come forward. Cain coughed again.

"For the past few months, we have been examining X's design, and have concluded that others like him can be constructed. As a matter of fact, just recently we created our very first. We call him a 'reploid', which stand for replicate android. His name is Cancer, and he seems to be very good natured. Right now, he's reading War and Peace." X nudged him.

"Err, he finished that." Cain grumbled.

"All right then. So, he's DONE reading War and Peace. Just as well. People, we don't know how this may change things, but what we do know is we feel it has great promise. Thinking robots such as X here…imagine the possibilities! They can perform jobs humans are unable to…integrate into every part of our society for a greater benefit!" Cain let the words sink in, then nodded his head.

"I think that takes care of everything. Thank you all for coming today, and have a pleasant trip back home." Cain and X started back upstairs, with Jim in tow. But the reporter frenzy leapt into action, and they barely made it inside the heavy doors with their shirts intact. Cancer came down from upstairs, carrying another book.

"How'd it go?" Cancer asked warmly. Cain nodded.

"Well. Cancer…anything happen while we were gone?" Cancer nodded.

"Your fax has been going crazy, doc. It seems every major robotics corporation wants to own the rights to reploids. You sure this was the right thing to do?" Cain shook his head.

"I don't know. But…aren't you glad you're here right now?" the question made Cancer think, for a while, but then he nodded.

"Yeah…it's good to be alive."

"November 22nd, 21XX. With X's help I have completed my first reploid, Cancer. Although I don't completely understand how all of Light's systems work, I was able to make some minor modifications and the reploids seems to be functioning perfectly. His strength and speed seem limitless and he is fully able to make his own decisions. In fact we got into our first argument today. How intriguing!" Cain kept a positive attitude in the recording, but he felt sore after the browbeating he had received. Cancer had successfully won the debate on why there are too many hot dog buns to hot dogs, with X moderating. Cain had tried to argue that favoritism and bias played a part in X's decision of the debate, but in the end Cain had lost anyway.

"That Cancer…just like X. A feisty bugger with an enormous desire to play mensa." X chuckled as he walked into the room.

"Is that so, doc? Oh by the way, Cancer asked me to tell you that the deal's been signed." Cain nodded.

"At least my aching mind can take comfort in knowing that even if he did overpower me in argument, he's friend enough to handle my finances." X smiled.

"Friend? We're your friends?" Cain nodded.

"X, you're not a robot. You and Cancer are sentient beings, and deserve to be treated as such. Not just any ordinary robot that has no will of its own." X shook his head.

"That doesn't seem to be what others are saying." Cain looked up.

"What? Who's saying that?" X shrugged.

"Critics, people on the news, reporters, editors and average joes. The basic opinion is that reploids are nothing more than smarter robots that should be put to work. I frankly don't like it." Cain nodded.

"Yeah…X, you have to understand that even in this day and age, there are some who think they deserve to be treated better than others. We've had people of discrimination since the dawn of time…fascists, supremacists, slave owners…its' nothing new. Its just now they've found a new target in you and your reploid kind."

"Well, that's great to know. Cancer'll feel so pleased as punch. And what do you mean, MY reploid kind?" Cain chuckled.

"In a way X, you are their father. Father of a race that will be born not from their parent's womb, but built in factories all over the world." X twitched his mouth into a worried state.

"I'm not sure I like that. How will they respond? I mean, not having the caring environment Cancer and I had when we were activated?" Cain wheeled his chair back against the wall and eased up against it.

"I don't know, X. I just hope they turn out all right. Their personality isn't programmed into them, it depends on their experiences. Like a human's." X nodded.

"One last thing I'm worried about. Light's notes said there had to be a diagnostic waiting period to determine safety. That's what he did for me!" Cain harrumphed.

"Yeah, I read that. But Cancer, he turned out all right, didn't he?" X nodded warily.

"I just can't shake off this uneasy feeling, doc. Like something's coming…" Cain nodded. He got up and patted X on the shoulder.

"I'm going to tell you something, X. Before I found you, before I even found Light's lab, there was just a hole in the ground. The night before we dug into it, I had a horrible nightmare about something dark and evil coming from it. Luckily, it was just a dream. X, you don't scare me that much. And I don't think you ever will." Cain got up and walked out of the room, with X following closely behind.

The deals had to be double checked before production began.

"January 3rd. The new reploids have been running off the assembly line for several weeks. It's amazing how easily they have been able to adapt to even the most difficult jobs. It is still a bit odd to see them working side by side with humans, but everyone seems to be happy to accept them." Cain clicked off the recorder as X, Cancer and himself walked down the factory line at one of the plants of Hewlett-Packard. A company that originally dealt with simple computers, now it was responsible for birthing hundreds of new reploids. Cancer whistled in disbelief, but X watched somberly. Accompanying Cain at the front was the plant manager, explaining the process.

"The reploid parts are constructed and combined here, at this point. We combine them and activate the units here. Now, because this plant deals with reploids able to handle extreme heat for volcanic and geothermal work, their design is a bit different. As a matter of fact, each individual reploid is given a totally unique form and name. After activation, we have workers direct them to the learning terminals, in there." The manager pointed to an enclosed room with several power outlet wires running from it. "They learn everything necessary for a general knowledge of their surroundings, then after that are shipped off to see what area of work suits them best. Oh, would you like to see one of the finished products?" Cain nodded shortly, and the manager pushed a button beside them. Instantly, the wall opened up to reveal an elevator.

"This way down, sir. Will your servants be joining you?" Cain paused, then turned back to look at X and Cancer, who rapped their arms in disgust and anger.

"Sir, these are not servants. They are my friends, and you should treat them as such." Cain's terse reply caused the manager to look sorely discomforted and he ran his finger along his shirt collar.

"Right. Sorry about that, Dr. Cain." The ride down was a quiet one, and X and Cancer's bitter feelings were something that clogged the air. But then the doors opened and they emerged on the lower level. A reploid walked by, nearly causing the floor to shake.

"Oh, hold up there!" the manager called. The reploid stopped and turned his massive head. His long snout dangled down and was whipped around with his reversal.

"Yes? How may I help you?" his look was one of good-naturedness.

"Dr. Cain, this is Flame Mammoth." The looming figure bowed gracefully and then trumpeted a blast of hot air.

"Hello there! As you can see, I have been given the resurrected form of the Wooly Mammoth." X walked up to him and smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Flame." X raised his hand, and Flame nearly picked X off the ground when he shook it.

"Nice to you, X! I read about you. You were the first reploid built!" 

"Actually, he was." X said, pointing to Cancer who waved meekly. Cancer was a bit afraid of the towering gentle giant.

"Ha! So I see. Sorry about that." Flame chuckled, and his massive belly jiggled around.

"So, Flame Mammoth. What is your job going to be?" Cain asked gently. Flame raised his hand, and with it a flamethrower attachment.

"I'm going to work in a metal foundry myself. You see this? I melt the metal, and then I STOMP ON IT!!! Really neat. I think I got the only job in which you can actually have fun!" Flame chuckled. "Now, if you'll excuse me I gotta get to my transport shuttle. Busybusybusy!!!" Flame let out one last trumpet, then he stomped off in search of the transport that would barely hold his ten foot tall frame. X chuckled.

"There goes one happy reploid." Cancer nodded.

"But how long do you think he'll stay that way?"

"HE's ALIVE!!!! ALIVE!!!!" Cain couldn't help but let out a sinister cackle. Once again, he was playing robotic genius with the assistance of X and Cancer. But this time, their creation had a bit more to offer. 

"I see that, doc. You don't have to go bonkos." Cancer grumbled. Cancer was running the power uplink to the new reploid. "X, what's your reading on the internal operations energy?"

"I got 95% and climbing…there. Our new buddy just reached maximum strength. Unplug the power." X said definitively. The being's eyes quivered open, quicker than X or Cancer's had. In fact, it was like being jolted awake. Soon, the new reploid had full control of his capabilities. 

"I gotta tell you, that's the nastiest color scheme I've ever seen. Green with brown and metallic gray? Bleegghhh." Cancer whined, emphasizing his last word. Cain chuckled.

"And I suppose your bumblebee palette's any better? Sigma, Sigma…Sigma, can you hear me?" the reploid shifted his vision and looked at Cain.

"Yes." Cain smiled. "It seems that he's working fine. X, can you get him to the computer console? He's got some learning to do." X nodded, but then Cancer cut him off.

"Hey, it's my turn! You got to do this last time." Cancer whined like a puppy dog, but X sighed and threw his hands up.

"Yeah, sure. Just don't goof it up, okay?" Cancer put on an innocent look and stared.

"Moi? Screw up? Come on Sigma, let's get you some LARNING!!!" Cancer grabbed Sigma's white, gloved hand and led him to the terminal. Sigma sat down, his dark eyes staring blankly. 

X couldn't help but be lost in looking at the giant, a towering 7 seven feet or so of reploid engineering. Sigma, Dr. Cain's latest reploid creation, holding the newest control chip design. Green armor, brown boots, blue armbands, a red crystal in his head and one in his chest…a Goliath with no spark of personality. But with the data he would take, and the experiences he would have, Sigma would become yet another totally different sentient being…one with his own thought, his own ideals and his own personality.

"So, Sigma. What do you think about cheese in a can?" Cancer giggled. "X here thinks Aerosol Curd is a stupid idea, but I think it's cool!" Sigma stared at him.

"That is an odd question to concern your time with, Cancer. What you should be focusing your energies on is things more worthwhile and meaningful." Cancer scoffed, thoroughly miffed. X chuckled.

"Hey, Cancer. You can't win 'em all, eh? I told you, START with Monty Python, THEN do Aristotle. But do you listen? NOOOO…" Cain swung his stick down and cracked X smartly on the head. "AICH!!" X cried out, his hand shooting up to protect himself from further blows. Cain shook his head and motioned towards the building up ahead.

"You three need to behave. Here I am, taking you away from my dingy lab in Japan to go visit the San Diego sites…and you are arguing about food products?" Cain and his companions were down in California, walking around the town and visiting places where reploids had been put to work. The one they were about to visit was a major corporation, where some reploids had been working as janitors.

"Yeah, great fun doc. Why can't we go to Disneyland?" Cancer whined. If there was one thing the pestersome Cancer did well, it was complain. Cain groaned.

"How many times do I need to say this to you? DISNEYLAND WAS DESTROYED. You can blame the 200X Earthquake for that." Cancer grinned from ear to ear, his eyes taking a mischievous gleam.

"That's what the mole people WANT you to think. But in reality, they are just hiding it in their underground kingdom, waiting for the day when Mickey Mouse returns from the dead to lead them into victory against the hideous…"

"Cancer, your mindless babble serves no purpose. Mole People are an outdated dogma in Science Fiction from the early 20th Century." Sigma's answer cut Cancer short again. X snickered, trying to cover his humorous response with a hand. Sigma turned to X, a look of inquisitiveness on his face.

"Have I said something funny?" X nodded.

"Not exactly, but I love it when somebody stops his rambling."

"We take special care to treat our work force as equal members, Dr. Cain. At Florotech, we feel it is our mission to serve the people, no matter what they look like or what design they were born from." The executive director was leading them down the immense hallways of Florotech Central, the main building of a global telecommunications empire that spanned the world. The blue walls set X and the others at ease from their nervousness. So far, there had been two incidents in which reploid workers were prodded or goaded into hostile action against humans. It seemed it could not happen here.

"Oh, as a matter of fact here are some now." The executive walked up to four reploids, each of whom was dragging about a mailcart. "Excuse me! Could you come over here for a second?" the four turned, but three walked away. Only one came stepping up, whistling a tune happily.

"Yes, how may I help you?" he bowed, but he looked very odd. The executive director pointed to Cain.

"This is Dr. Cain, creator of your kind." The reploid's eyes lit up, and with lightning speed almost too fast to track, he shot his hand up and shook Cain's vigorously.

"Ohmyohmyohmy! This is…so great! The Doctor Cain, right here in thisroom ofwhichI work!!!" Cain smiled, then pulled his quivering hand back.

"Nice to meet you…err…"

"Oh, forgiveme! Sometimes I forget my manners…." The reploid spoke quickly, and it seemed to X that every part of his responses was heightened to blazing speeds. "I am Boomer Kuwanger…the name's misleading, I know. The factory that designed me gave me a few nifty abilities. I look like a Stag Beetle, right? Well, that's so I can use this handy trick…" Kuwanger lowered his head, which was decorated with an odd helmet. But then X jumped back in surprise when the hat's horns clipped together with a menacing CRRACKK. Swiftly, Kuwanger moved next to the cart and lifted the entire thing effortlessly. The executive director smiled broadly.

"He likes to call that the Dead Lift. When he isn't on mail duty, he works down at the loading docks." Boomer lowered the burden back down and smiled.

"Nifty, huh? And besides from that, these horns, pincers, whatever you wanna call 'em also make great letter openers! I call it the Boomerang Cutter. I'm saving all the money I earn for one of those nifty hovercycles I keep hearing about." Cain smiled.

"So, you like working here?" Boomer nodded.

"Yeah, it's great. Nobody gives me any hassles. But some of the others are just so sullen…"Boomer sighed. "Oh well, a few bad apples in every basket, or so they say. It's been great talking to you, but I gotta get back to work. Those other three are way ahead of me now." Boomer took off in a flurry of feet, and Cain chuckled.

"Hey Sigma, what did you think of him?" Sigma clacked his teeth, then finally said,

"Likes his job. Gets along with others. A contributing member of society. I like him." Cain chortled.

"Good to hear that, Sigma. Now, come on. This place has a lot more to see yet."

Boomer Kuwanger whistled merrily as he followed the mail cart caravan through the many offices, desks and hallways of the building. The three reploids up ahead had been grumbling for some time, and Boomer had decided that their reasons for being so sour could be explained by the fact that their loads had been a bit more this week. But that was to be expected, for after all it was February, and after the initial onrush of St. Valentines letters, many had decided to send a few more.

They finally emerged into the mailroom loading area, where the letters were received and put into the carts for transport. And up ahead was Mr. Grayson, a balding greasy fat man with a sour disposition towards anything that wasn't beer or women. Which, considering his work area, held neither.

"Yerrall late!" Mr. Grayson grumbled. "New shipment just came in, and you're off slacking!" the first reploid stared at the incompetent boss angrily.

"No, we weren't." Mr. Grayson gave an evil smile, then said,

"I see. Well, it seems to be you're being uncooperative. It seems your paychecks have been held back by default once more." Mr. Grayson had the annoying habit of holding back paychecks, torturing his reploid workers with the unfair and malevolent power he possessed. 

"You can't do that!" the first reploid protested again. Mr. Grayson lifted his arms up in a defiant posture and smiled again.

"You'd like to lose two week's worth of pay? Fine by me." The first reploid growled angrily, then screamed with rage. He swung around with rage and punched a hole into the mail-sorting machine, denting it and causing it to turn off. The second one turned about and started to destroy the mailcarts, kicking them viciously. The third reploid went for Mr. Grayson himself. 

Boomer Kuwanger stopped whistling as his mouth hung open in shock. His fellow workers…his fellow species was going maverick. 

"Hey! Stop that, will ya? You want to get shut down permanently?" Boomer yelled at them, trying to stop their rampage. But the first maverick turned to him and glared him down.

"Human lover! You will suffer the same fate as they do! All humans are enemies of reploids, and must be destroyed!" the first maverick started to run towards Boomer, but Boomer flashed to the side with a burst of speed and avoided him. Boomer Kuwanger became overwhelmed with the conflicting emotions he felt during that moment, and he found he could do only one thing;

"HEELLPPP!!!!"

"Did you hear that?" Sigma suddenly asked, his head quirking towards the mail room. Cain looked up confused.

"No. What should I have?" X and Cancer were also staring at the communications center in concern.

"Someone just yelled for help." Sigma said shortly, then started running towards the cry. What he saw when he smashed through the doors surprised him. Boomer Kuwanger was trying to avoid one reploid, while two others were running about the room, chasing after humans and destroying the facility. Boomer's frightened eyes turned towards Sigma, and then with a flash of recognition, he yelled out,

"Help me! They've gone MAVERICK!!!" Sigma frowned. Mavericks…here? That meant danger for everyone. They needed to be stopped…but it would take too long for the police to arrive.

"I guess I need to do this myself…" Sigma mused as he ran towards Kuwanger's entanglement. With a powerful blue arm, Sigma grabbed the offending maverick swinging at Kuwanger and decked him flat with one massive blow to the head. Kuwanger breathed easy and smiled.

"Thanks, pal. I never caught your name when I saw you before…"

"Sigma. My name is Sigma." Just then, another loud cry of pain stopped them short, and Sigma cursed.

"The mavericks are hurting those people! I'll stop the mavericks, and you get them to safety." Boomer nodded quickly, and now he found his intense speed could be of use.

"You got it, Sig." Sigma squirmed at the improper wording of his name, but took off towards the second maverick, who held a bleeding and barely conscious Mr. Grayson in his hand.

"Now our pain and grief becomes yours, human bastard!" the maverick sneered. But suddenly a massive blow caused his sneer to vanish in shock and surprise. The maverick looked down at himself to find that he had been impaled with a metal rod, and his blood was pouring out unmercifully fast. His strength weakened, and the limp form of Mr. Grayson dropped to the floor as the maverick did.

The third maverick was charging the group of people who were clustered in a corner, huddling in fear. But then a mighty red blur came in front of him and a solemn face stared directly in his eyes.

"You will not harm them." Kuwanger choked out, before he bent down and grasped the maverick with his Dead Lift. With a mighty roar, he swung the struggling monster at the ceiling with incredible force. The ceiling gave way, and the maverick became lodged in it. But the form went limp, showing Boomer Kuwanger he had done his work right. 

Just as quickly as the episode had began, Sigma and Boomer Kuwanger had ended it. And the people were safe…most of them.

Cain, X, Cancer and the executive director barged through the door, and gasped at the display they saw.

"What happened here?" X whispered. Sigma turned, a look of steely power in his voice.

"Mavericks."

"February 16th. Three reploids went maverick today, and injured two people before they were stopped." Cain paused from his recording to look at the construction around him. "This is the third instance of this type of behavior and I still have no idea of what is causing it. There is some talk about stopping the assembly of any more reploids, but I don't think it will happened. Maybe we've become too dependent on them…" a tap on the shoulder stopped Cain again.

"Hey, Cain. Building's going good. Architect says another two weeks and this thing is up forever." The solemn face of X stared at him. Cain nodded. He knew X didn't like this, but it had to be done.

"The Council has decided to set up a group of 'Hunters' to destroy any maverick before it can cause injury. The reploid named Sigma has been assigned to lead the Hunters. Sigma is one of the most intelligent reploids I've created and contains my latest circuit designs. His systems should be immune to any problems." Cain clicked off his recording unit and looked at X.

"I know you don't like this, X." X nodded, and so did Cancer.

"As pacifists, we do not agree with violence or war to stop problems." Cancer said, shrugging. "But, we realize that in this situation, there is no other way." Cain nodded.

"Maverick Hunter Headquarters, based in New Tokyo, Japan. Welcome to home, boys." Cain had paid for the building with his own funds, having built up a steady account with all the royalties he had raked in. The Council, or rather the Global Neighborhood Government Council, put the plan into action. Sigma, because of his actions had been elected. There would be more recruits to join the ranks of the Hunters soon enough, but right now there stood only nine reploids in bright red capes to start the ideal.

Sigma led them proudly, his face stone hard but lighter than usual. Then there was the joking Flame Mammoth and the speedy Boomer Kuwanger. Each of the eight subordinates of Sigma's command was a strong worker, and their abilities gave good promise for their military careers. Flame Mammoth had his immense weight and flamethrower, Boomer had his speed and his nasty cutters. 

The other six were faces X did not know, but he would know soon enough. Storm Eagle, the majestic flying reploid who had worked as a warrior at the English Hovering fighter Jet Barracks. Chill Penguin, a stout bird whose original function was to clean the pipes at the Alaskan Naval Base. Launch Octopus, a 6 armed wonder who had worked on the equipment at the underwater Coralus Resort by Jamaica. Spark Mandrill, a simian reploid that operated the electrical systems of the Jet Barracks where Storm Eagle had come from. Armored Armadillo, a shelled reploid that had worked in the African Diamond Mines, digging new tunnels and withstanding forces humans could not. And finally…Sting Chameleon, a reploid whose cloaking abilities had been used by the Zoological Institute of Helsinki for him to take notes and recordings on animal behavior.

"This…this is our future." X whispered quietly. "To live in a place where cruel justice is done." Cancer nodded.

"X, if there's one thing I've learned here, it's this. Sometimes, fighting is inevitable." Cain sighed.

"Sometimes I wish the 'sometimes' would finally buy the farm."


	4. 3...2...1...Zero?!

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

CHAPTER THREE: 3…2…1…ZERO?!

"Watch your head, Chill!!!" Flame called out. Chill quacked in surprise and ducked down, lying flat on his belly. A powerful plasma blast seared the wall overhead, and Chill sighed in relief. The larger Flame Mammoth blew off a blast of flaming gas towards the opposing forces on the other side of the room.

"Quack! It's no good, boss! They got us pinned down!" Sigma blocked another plasma blast with his green beam saber, a new weapons system based off the design licensed to Lucasfilm Inc.

"I'd like to know how they got to this military weapons depot in the first place…" Sting hissed.

"It seems they attacked a police car, then used their laser pistols to break into here." Launch grunted.

"And now they're toting arm cannons. Launch, set out a cover spread!" Launch nodded his massive bulbous head and raised his upper set of arms. With a single thought, he fired off two short bursts of non-explosive smoke missiles. They spiraled into the empty space between the mavericks and the Hunters and began to pump out white steam that clouded the room.

"Now, Sting! Infiltrate!" Sting lashed his tongue out in an affirmative and morphed, his outer shell shifting to the color match of the white smoke. Stealthily, he crept into the smoke and waited. Then Sigma smiled as he heard the mighty power of Sting's Iron tongue lash out and smack away a few of the plasma weapons. 

"Good. Chill, roll in. All others… with me!!!" Sigma charged ahead, his saber ready for some unlucky mavericks' beheading. Chill quacked and got on his belly, pushing himself towards the enemy. His destabilizing tactic would act much like bowling-he knock them over. Spark Mandrill charged ahead with a Dash Punch, while Launch prepared for an energy drain by jumping in the air and spinning downwards.

The initial group fell quickly, but as the smoke cleared another threat presented itself. A massive hovertank activated, with all hatches sealed.

"Oh, no…" Chill quacked. The mighty weapon of war rolled out of its hangar and started towards the cluster of Maverick Hunters.

"This batch is craftier than the last one. We'll have to do a massive all-out attack." Sigma yelled out, priming his beam saber. Spark clenched his fists for an Electric Spark, and the others prepared similarly. The tank turned its mighty cannon and fired a shot at the cluster. The Hunters moved out of the attack, but the blast sent them sprawling. It seemed for all the world that they were helplessly stuck…ready to be destroyed by a ruthless bunch of mavericks in a military weapon.

But then a bright flashing red ball crashed through the ceiling and smashed against the hull of the craft. Not only did it create a massive, smoldering dent where it had landed, but it also destabilized the gyroscopic orbiters and sent the tank crashing to the ground. Then a lightning quick spinning object emerged from the hole and skimmed the surface of the tank, emitting grinding noises as the mighty Boomerang Cutter ate its way through the hull like a can opener through tinfoil. Two figures stood by the tank, firing away at the now beached behemoth, that of Armored Armadillo and Boomer Kuwanger, smiling broadly as they attacked the whale tank.

"Hey, would you guys mind giving us a hand in this?" Kuwanger joked, priming his slicer for another spin. Sigma chuckled and leapt from the ground, driving his plasma blade deep into the power drive unit of the craft. The effect was instant, as the entire thing began to overload.

"All right troops! Move out!" Sigma cried as he pulled his saber back and backflipped towards the enormous hole in the wall of the facility the mavericks had made. His troops followed in quick pursuit, and not soon enough. Armored Armadillo was the last to emerge, narrowly avoiding the hot gases behind him. Sigma stared down at the ground digging fool.

"I assume you put the Rolling Shield around the tank so that nothing in the base was harmed?" Armadillo flashed a grin and a funky hand signal. Sigma nodded solemnly.

"That's good. Excellent work, troops!" Sigma's victory cheer was halted when suddenly a powerful blast shot out of the hole and struck him backwards several feet, skidding along like a skittering pebble across still water. The troops turned to face the new threat that emerged heavily from its alcove. 

It was far different from anything they had seen before, and it frightened them. An enormous shape…a walking hulk of metals and duraalloys, short stubby legs and powerful bulky arms.

"WHAT the Hell is that?" Flame spouted. It stood as tall as him, slightly more than Spark Mandrill. Kuwanger was the first to act as he pulled off his Cutter and aimed a throw.

"Who cares? It shot Sigma, which means it's TOAST!!!" the Hunters roared in anger and threw out their attacks. Spark used his Electric Spark Ground Punch, Kuwanger with the Cutter, Launch with the Homing Torpedoes, Armadillo with his In-armor Cannon, Chill with the Shotgun Ice, Flame with an oiling and then a mighty burst of flame that ignited the fuel, and Sting with a tri-shot of Chameleon venom. Each blast hit its mark, and a thick billowing cloud of smoke covered the target. They thought victory was in their grasp, but then the noise of pumping hydraulics ruined the dead silence and the terror emerged. The Hunters backed up a few steps and gazed in terror. This new…monstrosity wasn't stopping for anyone or anything…period. Even Sigma looked on in stunned reverence at the invincible creation before him.

In their stupor, none noticed a shadowy figure swoop overhead, nor the noise of metallic wings beating against air. But when a powerful blast of air known as the Storm Tornado sandblasted the enemy unit back several feet, they awoke. Sigma looked up and smiled when he saw Storm Eagle swoop down from his covert backup position high above and outstretch his talons as he dived down, moving faster than a bullet. His razor sharp toe talons clutched to the arm and shoulder of the figure piloting the massive hulk and threw him out of it. The screaming maverick skidded across the ground, losing speed, blood and armor all at the same time. Storm landed with a noble halt and closed his wings. He extended his beak and sniffed the air.

"For once, I wish you limeys could solve something with brains…not braun. What you should have been targeting was the driver…not the demon." Sigma shut his saber off and sheathed it, walking towards Storm.

"Good job, Storm. You've done your job well. And so have all of you." Sigma turned to face his grinning, weary reploid Hunters. "I think we all deserve a break. But first…I want to get some answers." Sigma turned and faced the running bunch of military brass that drove up in their hoverjeep. The leader, a two star general saluted Sigma then whistled in amazement as he saw the bloody aftermath.

"No damage was done to the equipment inside, except for what the mavericks were using. But I would like to know the deal on that terror over there." Sigma pointed to the hulking suit that slumped to a squat without activation. The general squinted and replied,

"That's our newest creation. We call it the Chimera. It's the first of a new line of tanks…riding armors. People…or reploids…get into the cockpit of that thing and drive it around. The arms have incredible hydraulic punching power, and the legs are improved with optional Acceleration Units like Jet thrusters." Sigma nodded.

"Not bad. Do you think the Maverick Hunter Headquarters could have a few?" The general took his hat off and scratched the glistening bald spot on his head.

"Well, considering how important your job is and also accounting for the deep thanks we owe you…you can take this one. Consider it our gift. We can always make more." Launch stared at the gruesome thing and scoffed.

"What self-respecting soldier needs that trash? And the coloring is all wrong. Blue and yellow? Gah. It needs to be purple and blue." Flame trumpeted a chuckle.

"And who made you an arts genius?" Sigma smacked Flame on the snout, causing him to whimper silently.

"No heckling fellow troops, Flame. Thank you general. We should be getting back now."

When the Hunters had gotten back, there was a little party that Flame and the cheerier of the lot, like Boomer and Chill threw. There was plenty of Budweiser-properly kept in biodegradable plastic containers. Of course, they couldn't actually get drunk-their internal fusion generators absorbed the alcohol and turned it into energy for the reaction. Flame trumpeted out a great bellow and slapped the drunken Chill across the back. Chill fell forward and skidded across the table, crashing into the ice sculpture X had made. X cringed as he saw his work destroyed in the blink of an eye by an act of stupidity. Cancer sighed and drew his hand over his face.

"X, I don't care what you may say. These guys are no better than Friday night Football Fratboys." The ultrasensitive hearing of Sting heard the remark, and he whipped his head around. With a mighty lick he expelled his Irontongue towards Cancer and drew him in towards the cluster of now giddy Hunters.

"Hey guys-Cancer wants to dance! Get the limbo beer pole set up!" Flame, Chill and Boomer gave a mighty huzzah of glee as they ran to Boomer's quarters to find the limbo setup they had created. If the limboer failed, they received a healthy dose of Beer down the throat. X shook his head and turned to Sigma, who stared blankly at uncaringly at the sight.

"Aren't you going to stop them Sigma?" Sigma shook his massive head.

"X…believe it or not, I don't want to. They need to unwind. Do you know what they got put through today? Torture." Sigma looked down at X with a sad stare. "We put our lives on the line nearly every day. I think the least we all owe them is a chance to recuperate and hope for a normal life." X nodded. X was a pacifist, and did not like to fight. But he fully agreed on the damaging effects of war on the psyche, and did not object to Sigma's claims. Sigma sighed.

"This is a bit too much for me. I'm going to go walk it off." X started to stop the lumbering Sigma, but then held himself back.

Even the leader of the Maverick Hunters needed a break now and then.

Sigma wandered through the streets of New Tokyo, a blank stare covering his internal disputes. Everyone…everyone he passed stared at him in horror, disgust or annoyance. Reploids did not…it was only the humans. They seemed to squawk at him,

"You monster! The sight of you sickens us!" Sigma clenched his fist in anger. Here he was, assigned and expected to protect their scrawny lives and uphold the law…and all that the humans ever gave him was scorn and mistrust. He almost wanted to choke one of them…their sheer audacity flared his circuits. But then he would calm down and listen to reason. Not only did he have an image to uphold, that not all reploids were bad…but he also had a force to lead.

Just then his head turned as he heard a sound…the baleful wail of a creature in pain. Sigma turned about and plodded down the corridor of the dank alleyway he had entered. And what he saw disgusted him. 

Humans…human adolescent boys were torturing a poor and defenseless dog. It was weak and beleaguered, ragged and emaciated. But then a gleam caught his eye and he realized it for what it truly was.

A robotic dog, colored purple with a massive neck plume and a frame that showed pride and power. But now all that Sigma saw was a pack of hooligans torturing this creature.

"Come on, you hound! Get up and fight!" one taunted, waving a baseball bat around. The dog growled angrily and tried to spring up. But another boy brought down a heavy club, smashing him back to earth. Sigma grimaced as he saw the damage being done to the creature…and he could take its pain no more.

With quiet steely determination, Sigma walked up to the horrifying scene and tapped the nearest one on the shoulder. 

"Hey man, get the F*** outta here!" the teen growled. Sigma frowned, and then pulled out his beam saber, lighting it up with a flick of the power switch. The all too familiar sound blared into the hallway, bouncing around like an echo that wouldn't die. The boy froze, then slowly turned around.

Sigma stared at him, his face a mask of rage and anger and pent-up frustration. His saber gleamed menacingly, at his side in hand, but ready to spring up and end the teen's life if need be. The teen pulled down his dark glasses and tried to gulp down his fears, but his throat had run dry. Doing the only thing he could, the teen turned about and shakingly tapped the others into an about face. The lot of them suddenly turned from cruel monsters into quivering masses of flesh and fear, and Sigma growled deeply.

"I suggest the lot of you push off…NOW." Sigma suddenly swung his saber in a wide arc as proof, scorching a deep gash into the metallic wall beside him. That was all it took for the demons of destruction to flee, leaving bats, sunglasses and fake Mohawk wigs behind. Sigma sighed, then sheathed his blade. He hated to draw his weapon for anything besides a maverick's death, but this time the gravity of the situation had warranted drastic measures. Sigma knelt down beside the whimpering dog and lifted its muzzle with one hand. The mighty beast looked at him with clouded eyes, then swallowed and began to lick Sigma's hand.

Sigma smiled warmly, but he knew the creature was in sorry shape. The truth of it was, the dog was many times older than Sigma may have guessed…for lying, wounded before the Hunter was a relic of the past…Treble, the mighty fighting dog of Bass, the robotic nemesis of the famed Mega Man. 

Some would have called it fate that such a link would occur, but all Sigma saw was a wounded creature with intelligence that needed his attention.

"Well, boy." Sigma chuckled. "I suppose we should get you back to my base. Doctor Cain should be able to fix you up. Maybe you could join me when I got destroy mavericks, eh?" Treble had been programmed to recognize certain commands, and DESTROY was one of them. Instantly, a gleam of happiness filled his eyes, and he ruffed softly in response. Sigma laughed. "So you like that, huh boy? Hmm…" Sigma took his other hand and scratched Treble behind the purple mane of his beck, and Treble growled happily in response, crooning his neck towards the soothing and loving hands of his new master.

"Boy..that won't do for a name. We need something special…something that says you're tough. How about…Velguarder?" Treble turned his wolflike snout towards Sigma, and let out a loud howl of approval. Sigma smiled again.

"Velguarder it is then. Come on Velguarder…let's get you home."

While the big part of the elite Hunters were still partying into the wee hours of the night, Sigma, Mandrill and Storm were in a room staring at a schematic. Storm stared at it proudly, while Spark gave a cry of approval. Sigma's mind was elsewhere, worrying about his new pet. Even if Cain was doing everything in his power to help Velguarder and prime him for battle, Sigma had a right to be worried.

"So, this is your airship project?" Sigma asked. Storm nodded and Spark did the same. Spark and Storm had been working in tangent to come up with this, still sharing the intense bond that they had…the bond of family. After all, they had come from the same Military installation. The diagram was huge, and it looked to be a very formidable ship. Storm chuckled.

"I designed this thing to take a beating. The shield plating is made from very durable metalloys. The drive system is pretty normal, fusion powered. But there are two things that make this quite different. One; it carries overhead plasma guns for air attacks, and a neat little package that Sparky here designed. I assume the entire bugger will be on shedule." Storm's English accent was unmistakably present and he sniffed, giving the topic to Spark Mandrill. Mandrill raised one gigantic fist and extended a finger, pointing to the bottom of the craft.

"Down here is a cargo lift. But what's impressive is that it carries more than cargo. Storm and I designed a new Maverick Hunter design to fit this. Hunters would drive vehicles with powerful plasma guns on board, and be dropped off and picked up by the crane. We call these hod rods 'Road Attackers.' And more importantly, it'll support your Chimera Tank when we get it . I judged the size and realized they were exactly compatible. Storm, as the chief engineer and qualified pilot would be in command of this airship. The rest of us would work for setting up the dropoff weapons, like the Road Attackers. You could even replace the reploid drivers with programmed drones for the vehicles." Sigma nodded.

"This thing isn't gonna be cheap, and Cain'll bitch and moan for a while. But he'll fork up the dough for it. So, what are you going to call this dreadnought of the air?" Storm craned his neck out and smiled happily.

"I hoped you would bring that up. This weapon in our arsenal…meet the Death Rogumer."

"May 16th. It's been two months since Sigma took control of the Maverick Hunters and he and his troupe have been able to prevent any further injury to the population. Everyone is starting to breathe a little bit easier…." Cain's recording was interrupted as Cancer, X and Sigma all cam running into the medical bay. Sigma spoke first, nearly running over the two smaller reploids.

"Doctor Cain…is Velguarder ready yet?" Sigma's face showed worry and concern for his pet, and Cain clipped off his audiodiary once more.

"Yes, Sigma. Velguarder is as good as new. His systems intrigue me, for even though he is not a reploid, his intelligence is nearly on par. The only thing he can't do is make his own decisions. It's like he was built to take orders…orders of destruction. Seriously, I was talking about you and when I said 'kill' the bugger nearly ripped my hydrospanner to shreds!" Cain smiled lightly, for the shock he'd gotten from that outburst still had him shaking in his boots.

"Well, I guess that means that Velguarder here is going to be a great addition to the team then!" Sigma chuckled. "I assume you got my list of functions I wanted to give him?" Cain nodded.

"Yeah, yeah…flame-thrower and whatnot. Chill Sigma. Velguarder will be just fine." Just then, the alarms went rocketing off and Sigma's smile vanished. Cain raised his head worriedly, but Sigma frowned.

"I'll take care of it, Doc. You fix Velguarder up." Sigma walked off, and the others followed, leaving Cain alone again. He frowned, then clicked his recorder back on.

"I am a little worried about X. He seems unsure of his place in life and what Dr. Light had planned for him. But given time I'm sure he'll find his way…"

"What's happening?" Sigma asked as he stormed into the War Room, the giant central area of the Maverick HHQ that held monitors and alert systems galore. Sting crawled down from the wall and shot his tongue out towards the alarm, shutting it off with a pull of his Irontongue. Sigma winced at the sickening sight, but there was no time to straighten out the flaw. Storm walked up to him and handed him a disturbance report. Sigma grabbed the paper and scanned it quickly.

"Maverick disturbance, American Desert. Hmm. And worse yet, native populations are getting the tar beat out of them. Storm?" Storm cawed out his reply.

"Yes, Commander?" Sigma handed the sheet back and wiped the synthsweat from his face.

"Have the 4th Unit take care of it. They should be up to it, and Garma will like the challenge." Karma was a friendly Hunter, one of the few who were human. But his incredible endurance gave him the power he needed to overcome it. "And have some scouts follow them." Storm clacked his heels and saluted sharply, then turned away to transmit the Unit Enable code. The code that would send Garma to go fight the maverick threat.

"How far are we now, boss?" The question rang out from one of the back lines in the caravan of Garma's 4th Unit. Garma brushed back his long black hair and frowned. 

They had arrived in Las Vegas, at the Hunter Depot that had been set up. To maintain a very quick response, they would warp to a pre-destined Hunter base and from there go to the trouble site. This saved time and allowed them to stock up on weaponry and prepare for the battle. The idea was that sometimes just warping in was trouble. 

"It's not far now, soldier. Just button your trap and make sure you have that X-Buster charged!" Garma chuckled as he turned on his own and began to charge it. 

X-Busters, Heart Tanks and Sub-Tanks were all now common Hunter Technology. Because Cain had the original plans for them, he and his techies had been able to create the versatile devices that every reploid was compatible with. But humans could only use X-Busters. That was why the Maverick Hunters as a whole were trying to discourage human soldiers. But a few veterans like Garma remained, steadfastly stating that a human was stronger than any machine, no matter how advanced it was.

"One mile to go, boys. You all set?" Garma called over the convoy's comm. The large troop carriers slowed down and then they were within range. The 4th Unit unloaded from their vehicles and walked towards the desert community, a blotch on someone's map. But it had a good sized population of 250, and of those many had been killed. The threat was there, and therefore so were the Hunters.

"All right men. Spread out and destroy." Garma's words were solid and unwavering. Some maverick would pay for its crimes today. The small town had very little for streets, but enough so that the wary troops paired up. The 4th Unit had experience, and although not as good as Sigma's elite, many in the Hunter forces knew this was a Unit no one would want to cross. The meaning of human and reploid existence did not matter. All that mattered was that they relied on each other to complete their mission and stay alive. And when it was over with, their Unit's cohesion did not end. Many was a time in New Tokyo that Cain had to pay off a disgruntled bar owner for brawl damages.

The day was still young, about Ten in the morning. And shadows played over the energy efficient adobe domes like pictograph movies. One pair of shadows crept along a roadway between streets…only to be shadowed by another that swooped down upon them with savage fury. The two cried once, then never cried again.

Garma's head swiveled in alarm, and he motioned for the men with him to follow him to the battle site. But when they got there, the battle had ended. Only two broken bodies-one human, one reploid-remained. Garma averted his eyes in sorrow, but did not remain quiet for long. He raised his Buster and checked the power level. Level three, it could go no higher. Just then, a swift rustling caught his ear, and he swiveled about and squeezed off the shot. A blurry red figure skittered away, and the shot soared through the air harmlessly until it hit a building, charring the wall black. The rest of his team turned and began to fire as well, but Garma shouted a cease-fire and they stopped. 

Garma's blood pumped, his heart beating out of his chest. The quiet calm of his persona was gone, for now a true threat was there to face. It had avoided his shot, an enormous blue blast. But for how long he could hold out against this threat…he did not know. 

Just then, more screams accompanied the silence, and Garma was brought out of his stupor. With a hand signal, he and his men scurried off to the threat.

"Commander Sigma!" Storm barked out from his post. Sigma looked over and Storm lifted his earpiece. "There's an incoming call from the 4th Unit comm system. I believe it's Garma." Sigma ran over to Storm and took the receiver, holding it to his head.

"Garma, is that you?" Sigma asked. "Report." There was quiet on the line, and then a weak cough and a shudder Sigma could feel through the line. His face dropped, for something had gone wrong. He knew it.

"Sigma…Garma here. Crazy red maverick…picked us off in pairs…" Sigma stopped Garma midsentence.

"WHAT?! Are you alive?" Garma wheezed, and then Sigma could hear him draw in a breath…a breath of fear.

"No…no please…stay away you mon…" Sigma shut his eyes, trying to stop his tears as he heard Garma having the life choked out of him by the maverick. And then the line went dead. Sigma let the earpiece and microphone drop to the floor, the tiny wiring clattering on the marble with dead silence. Storm looked at his leader in consternation.

"Sigma…what happened?" Sigma shook his head and opened his beady eyes, now black with rage. He let his foot drop on the phone, and the metal crunched loudly. Sigma checked his saber, and then walked towards the door. But he stopped halfway and answered Storm's question.

"Garma's Unit…has been destroyed."

20 Minutes later, the two scouts in brown coloring were waiting behind a stone, looking in awe at the structure before them. They did not even hear the sound of plodding boots growing louder and louder, until a voice rang out.

"What's our current situation?" they turned about and nearly swallowed their tongues in amazement. Sigma stood tall, and his face was in its calm state.

"Commander Sigma!" One burst out. 

"Where's that red maverick that wiped out Garma's Unit?" Sigma asked. The two scouts quickly raised their hands in military salute, and one of them spoke up timidly.

"In…inside. He's inside." Sigma looked to where he pointed, a dark opening into some sort of place.

"You may leave now…"Sigma spoke quietly, but then his voice's volume raised again. "I'll take care of this personally." The two scouts looked at him in stunned amazement.

"By yourself, commander?" the first scout asked. Sigma nodded, for he knew why he was doing this solo.

"I don't want any more of my people being sacrificed!" Then Sigma started walking towards the heavy doors that led to his foe. The two scouts stopped looking at Sigma for a moment, to stare in wonder at the building. It was covered in stone, and hadn't been bothered in a while. It looked to have been sealed up for some time, but had recently been opened. And minutes ago, the red maverick was wandered inside. The weird thing, the oddest about the entire shebang was a massive skull etching above that seemed to glare down at them ominously.

Sigma opened the metal doors, and sunlight poured into the dark interior. As his eyes grew accustomed to it, he walked inside, then halted when he saw the maverick.

It was faced away from him, but when Sigma had entered, the figure had turned and grunted in surprise. Sigma's face widened as the red demon charged at him, screaming at the top of its lungs. Sigma smiled, loving the fact he would be able to avenge his fellow Hunter's deaths when he crushed this terror's life from his mechalungs. In the blink of an eye, Sigma activated his Warp Boots, instantly shifting away from the maverick's path and to the side. The maverick halted where it stood, then turned around and tried to hit Sigma with a roundhouse kick. Sigma quickly moved away from the attack again, and the maverick's boot crashed through the near wall like tinfoil. Sigma couldn't help but be amazed as he halted in his new position and stared at the warrior, walking through the dust cloud it had kicked up.

It was beautifully built, its every feature seeming to indicate without a doubt its intent. This maverick was designed to be a war machine, from its pointed Helmet to the spiked kneepads. And everywhere on its body the streamlined red and white. Only the maverick's chest plate had any difference, with two green spheres built in. And a massive braid of golden hair hung behind him, jerking back and forth in tune with his head. Sigma smiled for a moment, pitying the fact that such a wonderfully crafted form would have to be obliterated. 

Sigma let out a cry and charged the crimson maverick with his full fury, but the maverick followed suit. They met in the middle of their arena, and the red demon was the first to launch his attack, a series of punches that Sigma avoided by extreme body contortions. But then Sigma backed up and swung his right leg out to attack. The red demon tried to block it, but Sigma's power proved too much, and the red maverick crashed through the wall to Sigma's left., destroying some sort of tubing along with the wall. Now the dust hung heavy in the air, for the titanic battle was devastating their area. The old building would not take much more of this. Sigma began to walk towards the maverick, but the red demon would not give up and he leapt from his crash site. With his same fury, the crimson maverick began to go after Sigma with another flurry of punches. Sigma dodged them all, then reached out and grabbed an arm. With massive strength, Sigma swung the maverick into the air, smashed him against the floor, and then flung him at the ceiling headfirst. The maverick crashed through the brittle construction, and hung motionless for a few moments. Sigma smiled, thinking that he had won. But his smile was wiped from his face and the demon stole it. The maverick raised his arms and pulled himself down from his position, a wide smile on his face as he yanked a portion of metal beside him from the ceiling. Sigma couldn't believe what he saw. The beast was actually ENJOYING this? The creature dropped down from the ceiling and threw his debris at Sigma. Sigma batted it aside easily, but he knew why the maverick had thrown it. His left hand swung up, only to crash against the demon's right. They looked at each other in anger, until their systems sent out a powerful discharge that separated them. Sigma tried to slow down, but the maverick would not let up, starting again with another flurry of punches, but this time the two were so close that Sigma could barely dodge them all. With a leap of avoidance, Sigma jumped up to the rafter above. The maverick looked up and then backflipped to the one in front of Sigma's girder easily. Sigma pulled his beam saber forth and activated it, the green blade spitting fire into the air. The maverick reached beside him and grabbed a metal rod, bringing it forth into a dueling stance with a cold smile and two hollow eyes. They both leapt into the air and met halfway, each striking with their weapon. The maverick expertly blocked the saber with his rod, while at the same time preventing the saber from cutting his weapon into harmless scrap. They fell down, striking, parrying and dodging the other's blows like duelists who had known each other their entire lives.

They landed, and jumped backwards. Then with another warcry, they reassumed their battle charging at one another. Sigma smote the first blow, his saber slicing down with vicious power and splitting the maverick's rod in two. The maverick smiled eerily still, and charged at Sigma. Sigma reared up for another downwards hack, and then the two met.

A flash of light…and then a scream. Sigma's scream, as his left arm fell to the ground still clutching the lit saber. The maverick had done the impossible…harmed Sigma. And worse yet as the power and electrical energies discharged from the wound, Sigma soon found himself in a very real and very alarming danger. The maverick smiled again and began to walk slowly towards Sigma, a small rumble of laughter in his throat. Sigma trembled and quaked as he stared in fear at the oncoming foe.

The silence of the moment was interrupted, and two shadows danced across the wall. One attacking, and one defending. Finally, a weakened Sigma fell to the floor with a cry of pain, and two huge gash marks streaked across his face and over his eyes, with one huge chunk of synthskin missing also. The maverick knelt down, grabbing Sigma's right arm and his head by the chin, squeezing it up in a powerful headlock, one in which Sigma knew he was doomed to die like Garma.

Whoever built this…maverick…was strong and Sigma knew it. Strong in hatred and strong in his crazed mind. But his thoughts began to blank out, and at last the only thing Sigma could do was listen.

Listen to the maverick's continual laughter, growing louder and louder until he reared his head back with a loud final laugh…and then the sound of an airpipe being choked off. 

Sigma felt his restraints go slack, and then vanish. He took a few breaths to get his fusion generators pumping out more energy, and then looked behind him. A gigantic W was flashed across the maverick's crystal control chip cover, and he was grasping his head like he had a horrific migraine. His eyes were shut, his mouth was open, and the maverick's scream of pain was loud and earsplitting. Sigma took his chance and with a mighty roar clenched his right hand into a fist and swung it at the mavericks' head.

The punch broke through the crystal, shattering tiny bits of plastiglass all over the floor. The maverick fell backwards to the ground, in stasis and fitfully sleeping. Sigma did not take the time to look at his fist, for if he had he would have noticed something sinister, something black and something living…living only for the purpose of death seep into his systems, finding a new host in Sigma instead of the maverick before him.

Outside, the scouts looked on in worry. There had been much noise that came from the inside of the building, and not all of it friendly. The first scout looked up as his ears picked up plodding footsteps. A dim figure emerged from the door, wearily trudging along in a jog.

"Look, it's Commander Sigma!" the scout cried. The other one looked over and then stared at his associate.

"Incredible…now I'm CERTAIN there's no one who's a match for the commander…wha?!" the scout froze as he saw the full form of Sigma for the first time. Sigma was clutching at his left arm socket…an empty arm socket, and his entire face had been mangled.

"Take that red maverick…to the repair center….and call Doctor Cain…I wish to have that maverick studied…" Sigma's voice came haltingly and painfully as he jogged along.

"Commander…are you okay?" the first scout asked. Sigma's face flared up in anger as he looked at the scout, then looked away. With a swat of his right arm, Sigma pushed the scout aside.

"SILENCE!!!" Sigma yelled out. The two scouts looked at each other, then at Sigma. And lastly to the interior where the maverick lay, sleeping. Sigma looked back for one moment, a strange look in his eye.

"And I'm giving you an order here…you don't speak a WORD about his being maverick, got it? NOT A WORD. As far as anyone's concerned, he's a reploid who's lost everything by the maverick attacks here." The scouts looked at Sigma in shock, for mavericks were disposed of. Something was odd in Sigma's attitude, but they would not question his orders.

After all, he WAS the leader of the Maverick Hunters.

"Hey…hey, wake up!" the groggy reploid was shaken vigorously by X, and his eyes refused to obey.

"Let me sleep, ma…" 

"Ah-ah, pal. Time for wakey-wakey!" X reached back and smacked the reploid in the cheek lightly. That woke him up.

The red reploid shot forth, his face with anger. X jumped back quickly, but he never took his eyes off the reploid.

"All right, pal. You got some questions to answer!" the red reploid growled. "Such as why the Hell you thought you needed to slap me." X grinned sheepishly, and shrugged.

"Sorry. My name is X…" the red reploid stared at X for a moment, and then laughed loudly.

"Oh, geez. Can you imagine what a FIELD DAY I'd have teasing you on that point?" X frowned.

"Enough of that, buster. Can you tell me your name?" The red reploid thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah. I'm Zero Omega…." He was interrupted by a sliding door as Cain walked in, accompanied by a recharged and rebuilt Sigma, who was staring into space blankly.

"So, your name is Zero, eh? Well, that's good. At least you've retained your thinking and memory. I am Dr. Cain, the political and medical leader of the Maverick Hunters. This is Maverick Hunter Headquarters?" Zero squinted for a few seconds, then looked at Cain with a blank look of confusion.

"Mavericks? Hunters?" Cain's mouth curled into a frown.

"Hmm.. he's missing some pretty important info. But from the looks of it…I'd say he had amnesia." Sigma looked at him.

"What, you mean he's forgotten it?" Cain nodded.

"More like shut it out. I mean, this poor fellow just went through Hell over there, with that maverick that you disposed of. He's shut it out, trying to prevent himself from going nuts in fear." Sigma frowned, and looked at Zero.

"More like he's trying to hide himself…" Cain looked up at Sigma.

"Eh? Whadidya say there?" Sigma looked down.

"Nothing…just mumbling. Tell me Doctor…these scars, there's nothing you can do about them?" Cain shook his head.

"Of course I can fix them, Sigma." Sigma looked into a shiny scrubbed metal plate that held operations tools, and squinted.

"Just fix the cheeks. Leave the eyescars alone." Cain raised his left eyebrow.

"Leave it alone?" Sigma nodded.

"Call it a scar of remembrance…the only maverick that was a challenge, and I defeated him." Sigma nodded. "I'll keep them."

Sigma turned and walked out, leaving behind Cain and X to their new companion, Zero Omega.

"So…Zero. Tell me, what do you want to do now?" Zero looked up, his eyes filling with excitement.

"Well, from what X-Box tells me here, you guys are fighting against reploids like me who've lost a few french fries from their happy meals." Cain nodded.

"Er…yes, that's true. Interesting analogy."

"Anyhoo, I figure I'd kinda like to try and be a Hunter myself." Zero got up. "As a matter of fact, I think I'll start training now." Zero got up and walked out of the medical bay. X shook his head.

"Damn. I thought for sure Zero would want to be like me and Cancer…" Cain smiled.

"Uninvolved?" X nodded. "X, we all have to make our own choices in life. All fate does is present them to us. A series of forks in the road, each fork leading to a different end." X sighed.

"Somehow, I think any fork involving fighting comes to an unhappy one."


	5. Mavericks At Base

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

****

CHAPTER FOUR: MAVERICKS AT BASE

Something was making a constant, pounding noise in Sigma's head as he walked down the corridor to his quarters. Like a headache, he thought. But reploids…reploids didn't get headaches…right?

"Ah!" Sigma yelped as it pounded even heavier into his mind. Then , the heavy pulsing began to make more sense. The pounding, the pounding wasn't just that. It was words, subliminal messages.

"Destroy, Infect, Survive…Destroy, Infect, Survive…" the message continued on, no stopping. Just a constant message. Sigma doubled over, for the force of the satanic message was becoming even more insistent. He barely managed to push his hand against the door button and slump into the doorway of his room. With all the strength he could muster, Sigma then shut the door.

"Who are you?" Sigma grunted, as his face doubled up in pain. But the voice did not answer, it just continued to haunt him, scarring its message into every one of Sigma's systems. Sigma began to moan, a moan that soon grew into a scream.

Outside his room, Cancer stopped and listened in consternation. Finally, he walked over and knocked on the door.

"Sigma?" Cancer started, then he spoke louder. "SIGMA?!" The screaming stopped, and then quiet footsteps walked towards the other side of the door. It opened with a hiss, and then Sigma looked at Cancer with a plain look on his face. But to Cancer…it seemed hollow. Like the glint of Sigma's happy personality had faded.

"Yes, Cancer?" Sigma said. Even his voice was a bit shallower. "What can I do for you?" Cancer coughed, then scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, er..uh..Sigma, I heard some screaming in your room. Everything okay?" Sigma nodded.

"Yes, Cancer. I was merely watching a thriller movie." Cancer nodded.

"I see…"

"Will that be all? I must return to my duties." Sigma cut Cancer off with a frown. Cancer halted, then nodded. Sigma tromped off to the War Room, leaving a befuddled Cancer behind.

"I don't like this…something's up with Sigma." Cancer grumbled. But then he shook his head and walked off. Maybe he was just being paranoid.

But what if he wasn't?

Zero set his sights on the target; a holographic Chimera Riding Tank. With his red and white modified X-Buster(he had built it himself), he released the supershot he had been charging. It scorched from the cannon and sizzled through the air, a thick stream of bluish plasma. With incredible force, it struck the Chimera dead in the center of the arm joint, breaking the monstrous piece of machinery loose from the chassis. 

A whistle sounded, and then everything blinked out, revealing Zero in an empty white room. A door on the side of the room opened, and then Boomer walked in.

"Hey, Zero! Good job on the shot. But how'd you…" Zero nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, sure Boomer. The Chimera is a pretty powerful Tank, I'll admit it. But the design flaws are pretty easy to find. One is the arm joint. A direct shot with an X-Buster will literally slice the craft limb from limb." Boomer laughed. 

"Zero, you are a great Hunter. Now I know why Sigma put you in charge of the 17th Unit." Zero nodded.

"A grimy job, but someone has to do it, right?" Boomer's smile faded and he nodded his head slowly. Just then, Zero's comm went off.

"Zero, come in. This is Cain." Zero sighed.

"Yeah, doc? What is it now?" Cain chuckled.

"I have a job for you…"

"YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?!" Zero screamed. Cain smiled.

"I want you to run into New Tokyo with X and get a restock on our metalloy. The reconstructer devices need that metalloy to build everything from Busters to Heart Tanks. Besides, I think you and X need to get better acquainted." Just then, a knock at the door interrupted Cain, and a sheepish X walked in.

"Hey, Doc. Zero, you ready to go?" Zero grumbled, mixing in a few curse words from different languages for good measure, but he knew how to take orders.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's just get this over with." Zero could hardly believe his fortune. A great warrior, being given the task of a messenger. X wasn't too thrilled about it either, for he despised what Hunters did. Cain slapped them both on the back and laughed.

"You boys have a fun time now!" X and Zero took off, neither saying a word to each other, but each brimming with disgust for the other. Cain chuckled, looking at them. Perhaps if these two, a pacifist and a warrior, could become friends…then there might be hope for the world yet.

"Any idea why he's called us here?" Launch asked, scratching his bulbous head with a mighty tentacle. The nearby Boomer shrugged, and Armadillo popped his head out his shell.

"Maybe there's a new riot somewhere, and this time it requires a complete briefing." Storm guffawed and walked in.

"Nonsense, old boy! If there had been a bloomin' threat that needed a bloody briefin' it wouldn't be our mission." Spark jumped up and down noisily, squealing in delight.

"Ooh, ooh! I know! He's going to promote us!" Sting shook his reptilian head.

"Highly unlikely, my simian brother. We are already the elite of this place." Armadillo grumbled angrily.

"Then why am I still stuck in the same cramped quarters?" Armadillo felt unrest, and he made it public. The mighty mole was not one to keep quiet. Just then, the door opened and a new figure emerged.

"Oh, hey guys." The purple Hunter nodded, but the tiny slits in his helmet did not betray his true emotions. It was Vile, a Hunter created by Sigma himself who loved to use the Chimera Tank. And even though he'd never fought with the 1st Unit, Sigma's Unit, Vile was still a strong and well-balanced warrior. Of course, compared to the rest of the 8, Vile was still second best. But his shoulder mounted stun cannon was no force to scoff at.

"What do you think Sigma wants?" Vile asked. Chill squawked and shrugged, which was a pretty pathetic one, for Chill didn't have much shoulders to shrug. But then the door opened again and a large figure plodded in.

"The question is not what I want…it is what we ALL want." Sigma stared at them, with eyes that could have been sadness or emptiness. Sigma's entourage stared at him in befuddlement, then looked at each other. Finally, a brave if not indifferent Flame Mammoth spoke up.

"Pardon me, boss. But if you don't elaborate…we think you might be nuts." Sigma chuckled softly, but then it sounded like a growl.

"You don't understand, do you? Foolish slave. Don't you realize…humans have been using you?!" Flame chuckled.

"Er…Sigma, I know I'm not a slave here. But ever since you came back from that one mission in the US…you've been weird. Tell me it's just a minor glitch." The others also stared at Sigma oddly, slightly raising their weapons. Not enough to be a blatant threat, but enough to make the point clear the trust for their leader had vanished. Sigma frowned.

"Oh, come-come now. Do you think my doctrines are that odd?" Chill nodded.

"What scares us is the fact you're acting…maverick, Sigma. Rebelling against the humans!"

"REBELLING?! More like breaking free from our bonds, Chill. Bonds that were forged when humanity blindly thought reploids were nothing more than advanced robots, and refused to grant us the respect and freedom that they claim all men deserve." Sigma's speech was elaborate, soothingly said…and total bull. His forces stared at him, but a little less harshly. Part of it had sunk in, but the thought of rebellion was not there…yet. Sigma sighed.

"I see we're going to have to do this the hard way. Velguarder…SIC, BOY!!!"

While all this had been going on, Zero and X were returning from the local metallics plant with their load. The beginning part of the ride had been silent, for X thought to himself quietly, and Zero grumbled and plotted about what he'd do to Cain when he got back.

"So, X." Zero finally broke the ice. "Tell me, what sounds sweeter…sticking Cain in a vat of marshmallow goop…or putting super glue on that blasted stick of his?" X thought for a moment, his face curling into a smile.

"Hmm…well, the marshmallow stuff is too messy, and he might decide to track it all over our rooms." Zero nodded. "And on the other hand, if we stick his hand to that cane, he might take that as a cue to smack us with it a bit more often." Zero smiled at that one, wincing slightly at the mental image.

"So, what would you suggest then?" X let his imagination go wild, then he smiled.

"He's an archaeologist. Tell him that CNN reported dinosaur bones underneath the Maverick HHQ." Zero shook his head.

"Nah. Dinosaur EGGS…that's better." The two of them laughed, and some of the tension betwixt them melted away. Like a load of sandbags that had created a dam for their disgust suddenly soaked up the water, and became unnecessary. X paused for a moment.

"Zero, what do you think of me?" Zero lifted his left hand from the wheel of the hovertruck and scratched the points of his helmet.

"Well, X, what can I say? First time I saw you, I knew that you weren't a fighter. And that gets on my nerves." Zero's smile faded. "You aren't my friend…but you are someone I know." X nodded sadly.

"Well, I guess I couldn't expect much from you. But you…Zero, you're the oddity. You don't know your past, you don't know your creator…but yet, you were activated before Sigma rescued you, because you didn't need the DataComputer sessions all other reploids do." Zero chuckled.

"I guess that makes me special, huh?" X sighed.

"That makes you something, Zero." Zero turned to look at X, and X looked at Zero. The two beings…two different views on life, two different paths merged for a brief moment in thought, but then their minds trailed off and they lost their connection.

They finished the ride in silence. Zero with his utter disappointment and dislike of the pacifism in X, and X with his apallment at the brutality in which Zero worked.

"Hey, DOC!!!" A foreign but familiar voice filled the war room, and the nimble frame of Cain swiveled quickly, his face lighting up in recognition at the young man who walked in the door with a huge smile and an incredible wave.

"JIM!!" Cain laughed raucously and leapt from his seat. "How the devil are you, boy?!" Jim chuckled.

"I'm fine, doc. The team's pretty sad without you, though. Nobody knew archaeology like you. They did ask me to bring you this…" Jim reached into his brown field satchel and pulled out a plastic container. Cain took it and opened the lid, and a lovely aroma filled the air. Cain took a deep sniff, and a new smile of dreaminess came to his face.

"Spinach artichoke dip…my favorite!" Cain shut it, then swiveled his eyes around. Everyone looked at the container hungrily, even the reploids who didn't need food to function.

"Jim, we'd better hide this. The main 'fridge isn't safe territory for this. Come on." Jim followed his former mentor and lifelong friend down one of the hallways to the medical bay. Cain pushed the button, and the door slid open smoothly. Cain walked in, followed by a grinning Jim. An odd frame came to life and rolled over. Jim was startled, but Cain nodded in reassurance.

"It's okay, he won't bite. This here is Hazil, our new chief medical officer. He excels in both reploid and human medicine and surgery." The figure smiled, and waved a hand. Jim squinted in disbelief.

"He looks more like 'Mack' from The Jetsons than a medical officer." Hazil frowned.

"Hey, I may not be the prettiest hunk of reploid available, sonny, but I got it where it counts. Various storage units in my chest compartments, and enough arms to handle even the toughest thoracic job. And your name would be…" Jim smiled, putting his hand out.

"My name's Jim Dacker. And, I'm sorry about the Mack thing…" Hazil chuckled.

"Not a problem, Jim. I get that all the time. So, Doc. What do I owe this visit to?" Cain smiled secretively.

"Well, you see Hazil, Jim brought me this nifty food which happens to be my favorite appetizer. And I'd like to stash it in your medical cooler…" Hazil frowned and crossed his arms.

"Oh, no you don't. Last time you did this, it got moldy and I had to throw away four pints of reploid blood which had also gone bad!" Cain put on his puppy face.

"Please, Hazil? I'll get you anything you want." Hazil sighed, then smiled. Cain dreaded this part of it. Hazil, although an excellent surgeon with supreme bedside manner, also held an Arab's knack for bartering and blackmail.

"Well, I've been looking at a new systems diagnostic runner for a while-it'll cost you about $200 bucks." Cain's eyes boggled at the sum.

"200 Frackin' BUCKS?! GO TO HELL! I'll give you 150!"

"175."

"160!!!"

"170"

"165!!!!"

"169.50. Take it or take your goop elsewhere, Doc."

"May your reploid gonads shrivel into a thousand tiny raisins and be eaten by maggots…FINE!!" Cain finally gave in, and Hazil took the dip.

"All right, doc. This thing'll be waiting for you when I get those dollah bills." Hazil chucked the container into his medical cooler next to the icepacks and then shut it with a definitive clack. Cain sighed in defeat. Jim slapped Cain on the back.

"I see it's just like old times. This guy could pass for Harold!" Cain nodded.

"Yeah…THAT JERK STILL OWES ME 20 BUCKS FROM A POKER GAME!!!"

Meanwhile, the restless Cancer was walking about Maverick HHQ, looking for something to do. Past the medical bay, past the war room, past the docking bays for the Hunter vehicles(Including a very large berth for the docile but deadly Death Rogumer), and past the training gym. When he walked out of the quarters corridor, he found himself in the hallway on the east side of the building that held the many numerous briefing rooms. Just then, Cancer heard a clatter, and then simultaneous roars of anger(and rage?!) Cancer stopped and turned his yellow frame towards the noise, behind a thick wooden door. But when it burst out, Cancer suddenly found himself staring into death's jaws.

The 1st Unit in all its fighting glory was snarling and growling, and making basic not so friendly noises. All had bloody murder in their eyes…but now parts of their armor and reploid frame held an unmistakable insignia; a slanted S in a Trapezoid.

"What the hell…" Cancer began, but he never finished his thought. A yowling Sigma leapt forth and took a mighty swing with his saber. The green plasma encased in the electromagnetic field of the blade bit into his side, severing blood vessels, servomoters and framework. Cancer screamed in agony as his frame was split into two useless halves, which clattered to the ground with a thud. The group tromped off in a dash down the hall. Cancer moaned and fluttered his eyes weakly; he had to warn everyone Sigma's gang had gone bonkers, but he couldn't even reach for his comm. Cancer was dying. 

And soon enough, many more would as well.

"What was that?!" Cain bellowed as he heard Cancer's cry of despair. But it was soon padded over by a series of explosions and other noises. Jim got up, with a look of worry on his face, but one of the reploid techs in the war room chuckled.

"Looks like Cancer turned up the difficulty setting on the simulator again. Poor bastard." Cain sighed in relief and waved his hand.

"Right. Could you go take care of him?" the tech sighed, then got up and started to trot down the hallway to the training gym.

He never made it ten feet. A sudden blast of flame, ice and electricity threw the tech backwards. Or rather, his charred, burning frame backwards. Everyone suddenly degenerated into panic and confusion, some trying to reach for their weapons, and other trying to get their phones working. Then, several familiar figures, the figures of Sigma's elite 1st unit emerged from the hallway, shooting round after round of their weapons, bouncing off the walls and destroying everything in their path. Sting himself lashed out with his Irontongue, and pulled down a supercomputer, which fell right towards Cain, who looked at it in fear.

"DOC!!!" Jim reacted quickly, grabbing the doctor and shoving him out of the way. But even with all of Jim's supreme effort, he could not prevent all of the doctor from becoming a pancake. Cain yelled in pain as the massive weight pushed against his right leg, breaking the bones inside of it with massive force. 

"Jim, you tried pal." Cain paused, waiting for an answer. "Jim? JIM?" Cain turned his agonized head, then stopped it and let it drop. Jim was dead, his neck broken by the same computer bay that had crushed Cain's leg. Cain tried to cry, but he found that he could not. While he was mourning Jim's death, many more were dying at Sigma's hands. They ignored Cain, leaving him for dead, and then when Sigma and his forces thought the destruction complete, they took off to destroy another area. Cain felt bleeding, struggling hands lift the computer bay from his leg and help him up. Haggard, shocked faces looked at Cain with pleading eyes, asking him to stop the pain and suffering. Cain shook his head, for he knew he could not.

"My God…" Cain whispered. "It finally happened. Sigma went maverick."

"What the devil in all that's holy and sacred…" X uttered in disbelief. Zero's response was a bit shorter.

"Holy Shit…" The both of them were stunned out of their wits by what stood before them. Maverick Hunter Headquarters…their home was utterly destroyed, pillars of flame erupting everywhere, walls caved in, smoke billowing from every broken window. And the mighty Death Rogumer, based in the HHQ Hangar pulled out, not a ding on it, still firing at the base. Then with great speed, it flew off down the highway not far from where X and Zero were returning. 

X and Zero parked their craft, or rather turned it off by the curb. Zero went in first, his boot thrusters speeding him up, while X came running behind. Zero stopped in the doorway, and X crashed into him. When a disgruntled X got up, he too stopped in horror of the scene before him. Zero finally awoke from the stupor and ran over to Cain, who was being led down one of the hallways to the medical bay.

"Doc! What the frack happened here?!" Zero asked. Cain turned around.

"Sigma and his 1st Unit went maverick. They've destroyed everything…EVERYTHING…in this place. Many are dead, a few more are wounded, and worse yet…Jim Dacker died." Cain paused and dropped his head. When he lifted it, a tiny tear was in the corner of his eye.

"And tell X to go look for Cancer. I'm afraid he got attacked first." Zero nodded somberly, then whistled to X. The plodding blue behemoth walked over, and then Zero whispered something in his ear. X's eyes flared to life in shock.

"Cancer…CANCER!!!" X tore down the hallways to the briefing rooms, where among all the destruction he found what he was looking for. The bisected frame of Cancer, a pool of reploid blood in between the sections of his body.

"Cancer…what the hell happened to you?" X choked out, his emotions getting the better of him. X lifted Cancer's head, and Cancer gave a weak grin.

"Sorry, X…Sigma and his meanies got the better of me. I'm dying, X…"

"No, you can't!" X sobbed, pressing his forehead into Cancer's chest. Cancer raised his left hand and pushed X away.

"Listen to me, X!" Cancer coughed loudly for a few moments, choking out more reploid blood. X stopped and cleared his eyes of the fluid.

"X, you remember how I once said that Hunters fought to keep the peace?" X nodded. "Well, now there aren't that many Hunters left. You and Zero were gone when the attack happened…it's up to you to bring him to justice, X." 

"But I don't fight, Cancer!"

"Listen to me, you sad excuse of a wasted activation!" Cancer bellowed, nearly collapsing from the lack of energy. X supported him back up. "X, you have to get over that. The time for visionaries is gone, X. This is the time for people to stop talking and just to do it. And I don't think even Zero can handle this alone…" X nodded. Cancer took a deep breath.

"X, you were always a little uneasy about what life held for you. It seems to me you just found out what that mission for you is. Like your ancestor, Mega Man…you have to go save the world."

"But can I do it?" X whispered softly. Cancer smiled.

"X, I've known you all my life, for even as short as it's been. And if there's one thing I know about you, it's that you're a survivor. X, you'll do fine…you have to win, X. You have to stop the mavericks. Do it for me…and for every person and reploid who has given their life in vain." Cancer smiled one last grin, and then his eyes fluttered shut, his limbs falling limply to the ground. X shut his eyes, sobbed out one last cry of anguish, and then picked up Cancer's upper body. With a roar of a wounded animal, X yelled bloody murder, then he stopped.

He turned about, and instead of the gentle placidness that his blue eyes usually held, X's now held fire, positively nuclear.

Cancer was dead. Other people were dead. Many more would die…

Sigma would pay.

"Well, it seems you'll be using that walking stick for something useful now, Doc." Hazil grumbled as he wrapped up Cain's leg in a cast. All around Cain, the medical bay was chock full of people and reploids, all wounded. The dead had been put into the briefing rooms until they could be buried and disposed of. But the starkest reminder of how much they had suffered, in Cain's view at least, was the broken container of Spinach Artichoke Dip that lay on the floor like a useless lump. It had been removed to store extra healing materials, for the medical bay was the only room untouched by Sigma's rampage. Cain shook his head and pulled out his audiodiary again.

"June 4th. My worst nightmare has come true. Sigma went maverick today and took most of the other Hunters with him. His motives are unclear, but it seems that he 'decided' that humans are limiting the growth of the reploids. For that reason, he decided that all humans should be eradicated." Cain paused for a moment to clear his head and focus on the next thought. But Zero, the newly appointed master Commander paced the floor furiously, cursing Sigma.

"Blast Sigma! It makes sense he'd take us out. That'll give him a better shot at this." Cain nodded, then turned back to his recorder.

"Most of the population is in hiding or trying to flee the city. I'm not sure how long we can hold out against Sigma's forces. I fear I've built the reploids too well. X is taking the news of the war very personally. He wants to join Zero, the new leader of the Maverick Hunters when they go after Sigma. I'm doubtful of their chances, but I won't stop him. Something has to be done…" Cain clicked off the mike. He had neglected to mention the deaths of Cancer and Jim, but that was because so many others had died as well.

Zero turned to Cain.

"Where are the men?" Cain pointed to the reploids and humans who groaned and lay scattered around the room. Zero cursed.

"Great. Where's X, then?" Cain blinked, for he didn't know. Zero scanned the room wildly, but then Hazil spoke up.

"If I may be so helpful…X left a while ago. I think he's going to try and stop the rampage himself." Zero's eyes boggled. 

"He's gonna try WHAT?!" Cain grabbed Zero by the shoulder, his eyes wild with fear.

"Zero, X won't stand a chance out there!" Zero nodded.

"I know, I know!" Hazil coughed again with a frown.

"If you don't mind, Zero…Get your Stinking carcass out the door and rescue the lad. Otherwise…we may all suffer." Zero groaned, smacking himself in the forehead. He ran out the door muttering something about 'Where I'm gonna stuff that blasted blue boy's head when I rip it off..'

Cain turned to Hazil, the only unaffected reploid in the room. Needless to say, Hazil was less than pleased at everything.

"What do you think, Hazil? Should we call this the Maverick Uprising?" Hazil turned around with a frown.

"Doc, I'm busy trying to save lives here. But if you want my opinion, I don't think this'll be the last confrontation. You'd better call this one The First." Cain nodded.

"The First Maverick Uprising…"


	6. Into The Streets

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

****

CHAPTER FIVE: INTO THE STREETS

"How are those Crushers coming?" Sigma asked as he walked back into the hold. A cackling Vile was working feverishly with Sting on several hoverdrones, called Crushers. They were originally designed for demolition, with their chained spike pads. But the ample supply on board the Death Rogumer were being reprogrammed to demolish the highway, as well as hit anything else that they might run into. 

Sting looked up and flicked his tongue.

"Just fine, Sigma. Vile's getting the last one going." Sigma nodded. No smile crossed his face. He was leading a rebellion, like the robots of Wily before him. A rebellion whose life depended upon the escape.

"Fine. Have Vile get to work on those Spikys. Sting, you have the Ball De Vouxs and the Bee Bladers." Vile nodded.

"What about the Road Attackers?" Sigma frowned.

"Set them up with drones. No sense in wasting any good mavericks…yet. And those megamechs…have Spark and Launch work on them."

"In other words, you want them to shoot both missiles and electric outputs?" Sigma glared at him. Sting gulped.

"Right…no reason to ask."

A slim blue blur shot down from the sky, crashing to the highway's surface. When the particles re-coalesced, the figure of X emerged. His face was a frown, and if there had been one maverick in front of him…it would have been dead. He looked up, far ahead of him. The outline of the Death Rogumer hung in the sky, three miles ahead. And from the looks of it, they were in the city park. X checked his left arm. Instantly, it shifted seamlessly from hand to X-Buster in less time than it took to blink.

"Cancer…I'll avenge you, my friend." X said silently. Then he took off running.

Cars suddenly came shooting at him, and X found himself staring down at high powered headlights. They weren't hovercars, but the more common tire version. No longer did they run on gasoline, but fusion reactors. X screamed in fear and leapt high as he could. He cleared the roof of the car in his jump, then fell flat to the ground headfirst. Luckily, the other cars were driving in the other lanes, and they missed him. X picked himself up. The X-Buster had vanished from view, and the cars were gone. Even one that passed by, looking like all the world for a moving heap of scrap. X frowned.

"Looks like they've started the party." X checked his cannon and internal operations energy- 100%. "At least I haven't gotten hit yet." X shook his head and took off running. 

The road was severely beat up, and soon X saw why. Up ahead of him rolled a wheel with spikes around the rim.

"A Spiky? Here?" X wondered for a moment, then realized why. The Death Rogumer carried a lot of ground forces in its hold. X raised his left arm, which shifted into his Buster. He supported it with his right hand, then fired off a blast. It made a skittering sound as the tiny yellow/white pellet of power soared through the air towards the Spiky. The shot hit, but the Spiky kept on coming. X froze, and the Spiky smashed into him. X was thrown to the ground as the Spiky stopped and exploded.

"Aich!" X cried. He raised his left arm, and checked his energy reading. That hit had cost him about a sixth of his power. "Great. Even with this Titanium body armor I was found in, that 93% protection doesn't do much now, does it?" X shut his eyes and glared on. Up ahead, another obstacle left by his former friends was just…standing there. 

When X approached it, it crouched down and fired off a pair of missiles. The red shots streaked along towards X, and he leapt into the air. The first one missed, but the second hit him head on. X stumbled back from the force of the blast, then he ran forth, screaming like a demon. His left arm vanished as he got into his pose, then shot blast after blast of plasma. The yellow bolts of energy soared along, crashing into the armored frame of the megamech, but besides from charred armor, it did nothing more. X swore under his breath, and held his fire. But as he did, he slowly let it charge up. Sure enough, the megamech crouched down and let loose with two more missiles.

But this time X was prepared, and he avoided both with incredible nimbleness. Then, he fired his own blast. The streaming green beam followed the still smoking vapor trail of the missiles into the launchers…which exploded, destroying the entire robot into tiny pieces. X walked along, but then stopped and looked oddly at one of the pieces of remains; an energy capsule. The internal power source for the robot. X reached down and tried to grasp it, but found suddenly that the structure opened, and the power leapt to his fingers, sinking into his frame with restoring life. X checked his internal operations energy meter; it was now full. X smiled.

"Maybe I stand a chance yet."

"What the devil…" Flame exclaimed. Sigma lifted his head from the battle chart on the table and looked over.

"What is it, Flame?" The Mammoth reploid looked over, his face puzzled by concern.

"One of our Spikys and a megamech have been destroyed." Sigma furrowed his brow, then replied,

"Is it Zero?" Flame checked his sensors, then shook his head.

"Negative, bossman. Our culprit is X." Sigma's eyebrows lifted in surprise.

"What? The pacifist reploid? No way is that possible…" Sigma scratched his chin. "Then again, we DID destroy Cancer. That might have pushed him over the edge." Sigma's frown returned. "Deploy the Crushers. I also want backup Ball De Vouxs….And launch those Bee Bladers." Armadillo looked over in shock.

"Both, sir?" Sigma nodded.

"Even if he is just one reploid…one can do a lot of damage. Remember that, all of you." Armadillo nodded. He lowered his hand and pushed a switch. A low rumble was heard below the main bridge of the Death Rogumer as two massive pieces of machinery flew out from the hangar to cause destruction. Armadillo chuckled.

"They're away, boss." Sigma nodded.

"X, my friend. You have yet to learn…the people who stay alive the longest are those who don't get involved."

"Great. Just how many of these things do they have on board that blasted airship?!" X grumbled. He fired off his X-Buster, sufficiently charged to level three, a massive blue ball of plasma that soared through the air, missing the lightposts, until it struck the row of helicoptering Crushers. Each was instantly destroyed as the chain reaction occurred, their metal bottoms smashing into the roadway harmlessly. X sighed, then began to walk forward…until he slipped and fell through the sky-high highway.

"Yaaa!!" X cried as he scraped at the near portion of roadway frantically. His fingers suddenly sprouted metal claws from the main part of his hand, unnoticeable, but helpful enough that they dug into the highway. X's feet fell against the same chunk of rock, and he found himself hanging on the semi-wall for dear life. He began to slide down the side, but a now frightened X scampered with several jumps until he was once again standing on the highway, looking at the hole in the road a Crusher had created.

"I didn't know I could do that!" X whimpered. He looked at his hand, but the metal claws had vanished back in his armor. A quick diagnostic showed him just what they were.

"Main function wall-grippers. Hmm. Well, they won't help me cut through enemies…but this could help."

X walked forward, but then a massive shape swarmed down from the sky, a pair of glaring floodlamps blinding X. X covered his eyes with his right hand and looked at the shape. As his optical sensors adjusted, he saw what had impaired him.

"My God…A Bee Blader." X shook his head. Bee Bladers, giant armored fliers with chainguns and rocket launchers were terribly effective. And the Death Rogumer carried a pair for that reason. The question was; did they launch both? Probably.

X raised his left arm, now morphed into the menacing X-Buster. He pelted off a series of shots, but that only served to bring the monstrosity closer to him. X cursed at himself, holding back his fire while he charged his Buster for a plasma supershot. 

But the Bee Blader had other things in mind as it leveled itself at him. A scary-looking barrel emerged from the snout of the beast, with holes drilled in the sides. X shook his head as he faced the chain-gun that was the Bee Blader's trademark weapon of destruction. The barrel flashed with bright, intense light as several hundred rounds of depleted heavy metals were pumped through the system hydraulically. The tracers came short of X, but then the stream came closer as the muzzle moved, targeting the form of X. About a few of them skewered through the lower half of his boot, tiny spurts of reploid blood emerging from the entry holes. X yelped in pain and jumped backwards, running until he could go no farther; any farther and his own shots would dissipate and do little to affect the creature. X turned around and stared at his oppressor, murder burning in his eyes.

"All right, you Godforsaken excuse for a…" X's voice was drowned out as he raised his Buster and fired the massive blue shot. Along it soared, destroying the newly launched missiles of the Bee Blader, careening into the Blader's upper half-the propeller and the gyro-stabilization systems. The plasma tore away at the delicate machinery, and the bolt that held the massive blade in place vaporized. The prop that gave the Blader flight shot off like it had been fired from a gun into the air, and the main body of the Bee Blader crashed into the road, the internal unfired missiles exploding under the pressure and turning the war dreadnought into little more than a pile of junk. X sighed in relief, but it soon vanished into a cry of fear as the roadway creaked and groaned under the stress of the mighty behemoth's corpse. The chunk of highway broke from the supporting rebar steel rods, and the entire framework collapsed, taking the Bee Blader…and X…for a long drop. X scrambled behind him, his hands tearing at the walls, until in mere milliseconds his handgrips emerged and secured him, slowing his drop to a crawl of a drag. X looked down, and saw that the road was now uneasily resting on the 2 support pillars below, the shell of the Blader a reminder of the devastation. X shook his head in relief and jumped down, making his way to the other pillar and jumping his way up the side. A duck down onto the opposite face of the pillar revealed helpful energy capsules, obviously part of some other destructive robot in the Rogumer that his blue blast had wiped out after it passed through the Blader's prop housing. X smiled as his stamina returned to full, then he shook his head sadly.

For a moment, he had lost himself in the task before him, which he had chosen to take…and forgotten the reason why.

"What the blazes hit this place?!" Zero grumbled, as he stared at the burning highway before him. Burning cars, broken street lights, endless fields of debris from Crushers, megamechs and Ball De Vouxs…all indicating that whatever came this way was VERY deadly. Zero could hardly believe it. Here, he had come all this way, huffing, puffing and dashing for his life along this stretch of concrete to play hero with a very reckless and stupid X...and all for nothing. X was doing the job on his own.

"X, I wonder about you sometimes…" Zero sighed. He checked his Buster, a white and red beauty that was his prize creation. "Oh, well. If X is doing this well…sooner or later those Goddamned mavericks are gonna get smart and pull out a big gun." Zero continued to dash ahead, but then barely skidded to a halt as he stared at the gaping hole in the roadway. The shattered husk of a menacing juggernaut Bee Blader lay below. Zero whistled in shock and dash-jumped over the gap, gripping the support pillar opposite him halfway up.

"I don't know anything bigger than that, though."

"SIGMA!!!" Sigma nearly hit the roof of the airship as he was jolted from his fortress schematics. Sigma swore in Swedish and walked over to the wailing Armadillo, who jumped up and down excitedly and pointed to his weapons screen. The operational outlines of the Bee Blader twins, once green now flashed a menacing red. Sigma's eyes flew wide.

"X DID THAT?!" Armadillo nodded in shock. Sigma roared in anger and slammed a switch home-the comm switch for the ship's hold.

"SPARK, VILE!!! GET THOSE ROAD ATTACKERS READY!!!" Sigma could hear screams of surprise on the other end, and clattering plastic chips, which he guessed to be of the poker kind scatter on the floor.

"Right, boss." Vile's uneasy voice replied, and Sigma smiled, for he could almost picture Vile shaking in fear. "We'll get right on it." Sigma pounded the switch off and turned back to the table, where Sting and Storm were carefully examining the fortress schematics and pounding at laptops with great speed-although Sting's floppy three thick fingered hand was pretty lousy at it. Sigma sighed.

"My maverick fortress…a place to lead the new chapter of reploid domination. We will destroy those who enslaved us…infect those who can help us with our mission…and survive to continue the pursuit of our goal." Sigma did not realize that underneath his frame, the frame of the Hunter lay the ingrained virus, so unnoticeable that its mission was now his. 

But then again…he was no longer the Sigma he used to be. This new Sigma was one with the virus. 

The Maverick Virus.

X jumped off the pillar, shaking his head as he walked away from the second Blader below that had just been destroyed, with X taking no hits in the process. In a short amount of time, he had become so familiar and comfortable with his abilities, he no longer questioned his power.

He just continued to blast his way through everything that the mavericks were throwing at him. It was stone quiet for a few moments, and X took the time to stop and look to his side. Along the embittered and battered highway stretch, and untouched city lay before him. X sighed, knowing that soon enough those boding skyscrapers would feel their wrath.

Unless he stopped them. 

Just then, several Bee-Bombers came flying down. Bee bombers were orange-yellow robots who took their form from the hive insect, and who dropped motion detector bombs. X raised his cannon and fired off his shot, but the shot only partially burned away at the first before it stopped and sizzled out of existence. X cursed and held back his fire, waiting until his level 2 charge was set. He jumped up and fired the shot, and the entire line came falling as the hot plasma pierced through metallic carapace after metallic carapace. X sighed in relief, and managed to keep going, jumping off of unstable chunks of road as they crumbled and fell to their doom. 

He walked for a ways, and then suddenly a swarm of flying hoverdrones came buzzing down. Luckily, X had been holding back his fire, and the green blast took out a bunch of them. But the rest were very pestersome, smashing into him and then flying away. X winced and kept going, but their damage was noticed as he crept along at 75% operating power. Finally, only one hoverdrone stood in his way, and an enraged X fired off a barrage of plasma bursts, which destroyed the robot in a furious storm of energy. As the crumpled remains fell to the ground, another large energy capsule emerged, and X grabbed it, sighing in relief as the energy of his repair systems went back up.

The rest of the way was quiet for a while, and X stopped his Buster from charging. But then a blazing red shape emerged from over a crest in the road, and X stopped in shock.

"A Road Attacker?" X raised his weapon and fired off a shot. The plasma burst hit the front bumper, doing minimal damage at best. X cursed, then saw it was driven not by a maverick…but by a mere robot, programmed to do so. The Road Attacker fired off its mounted plasma gun, sending an oblong cigar shaped blast of white energy towards X. X jumped the blast, then ran towards the Road Attacker, his hand depressing the fire switch of his Buster's internal operations circuits. When he leaped the red frame of the car, he turned about and fired his shot, chasing it up with several miniblasts as a cover measure. The Road Attacker didn't stand a chance as the combustible gasoline blew up, tearing the vehicle apart into separate chunks. X stopped and stared. Ahead of him was Tokyo Park-and above the park, the dark and looming form of the Death Rogumer.

"Sir, X has reached the park border. In a few moments, he'll be able to attack us!" Armadillo's whining voice aggravated Sigma, and he punched the comm button.

"Vile! Send out the last of those Road Attackers, and then take the Chimera out. I'm leaving it up to you to stop X. And remember…destroy. X will have no quarter, for he asked for none." The chuckling, sinister laugh of the Boba Fett lookalike rang over the comm, and he responded quickly.

"Roger, boss. I'll handle him." Vile clicked off the comm and hit a light switch in a far corner of the ship's hold. The single light rained down illumination, revealing the daunting eight foot figure of Vile's baby;

The Chimera Riding Tank.

X had reached the park's parking, only to be jostled about by the intense vibrations as the Death Rogumer thundered down to greet him. Oddly, the belly guns were silent, not obliterating him then and there. Then, X saw the reason. From the ship's hold and the loading arm attached came a familiar red Road Attacker. When it came down, X promptly blasted it to bits. Then a second appeared, and with similar fury, X dispatched that threat as well. He smiled, raising his X-Buster to the gaping hole of the hold. He would end the threat-now.

But before he could squeeze off a shot, the ship stopped moving back and forth, and the arm went back up. When it reappeared, it held a massive blue and yellow walker, and at the controls the all too recognizable Vile.

"So, X. you've come this far, eh? Too bad you had to try and stop us. You would have made a fine addition to our ranks-now you will be scrap." Vile chuckled, a low rumbling chuckle. X stared at him, raising his Buster with intense burning eyes.

"It will be YOU who all suffer. You killed innocents back there, and I know you will kill more. It ends here, Vile. You and the rest of the mavericks will pay for your crimes." X released his Buster's charged blue blast, and it struck the mech full on.

It didn't make a dent. Vile chuckled again, that same low chuckle. But now a bewildered X found himself at the mercy of mavericks. And mavericks didn't play nice.

"X….you tried, lad. But you will be the first to learn…"Vile pushed a lever forward, and the mighty Chimera screamed forward, slamming into X, sending the Blue Bomber sprawling to the ground. X was blinded by the pain, and he suddenly found himself at a point where he knew he would die. He could feel himself being pounded around, and then as he opened his eyes, he saw Vile fire off a restraining bolt of electricity, which caught him full on. X lay crumpled on the ground, then Vile walked over and scooped him up with one mighty paw.

"You worthless piece of scrap metal! Did you really think you could defeat me?!" Vile chuckled as he clenched the fist tighter and tighter, squeezing the last drops of life from X. X could not speak, did not want to. Soon, he would join Cancer-his best friend. Already he could hear the swirling vortex of the infinity calling to him, a shrill whine….

A whine that was not heaven giving an invitation, but the alien sound of an X-Buster charging up to full capacity.

A mighty blue blazing beam of plasma energy soared through the air of the park, striking the joint of the Chimera's arm that held X. The hydraulics failed, and the piece of hardware fell to the ground, a melted, overheated mass of scrap. The arm socket belched smoke as the coolant insufficiently tried to keep control of the energy generator without full circulation of the coolant. And behind X, the sound of a powerful figure dashing towards the dispute. X let his eyes flutter open, just in time to see Zero stand in front of him, his Buster outreached and charging again. But the Death Rogumer, which had sat in the sky as a silent witness came flying down and lowered the hold lift. Vile and his precious mech leaped into the air to safety, just in time to avoid the powerful blast that scorched the air. The Death Rogumer flew off, its forces depleted and its freedom a necessity. Zero turned around to X, who was still recuperating. The blue reploid shook his head.

"I guess I'm not powerful enough to defeat him." X said as he shamefully lowered his head. He had failed his friend, and failed the world. Zero held back all the unchecked rage at X's impudence, managing to erk out a pep speech.

"X, you shouldn't expect to defeat him. He is designed to be a war machine. Remember," Zero continued as he raised a finger. "That you have not yet reached your full power yet. In time, you will grow stronger…you may even become as powerful as I am." X blinked.

"So, what do we do in the meantime? I mean, they are planning to destroy us all!" Zero continued.

"I'll go on ahead and try to collect data about their secret fortress. You try and stop the mavericks." X frowned.

"Zero, that's plain crazy! I'll be destroyed for sure!" Zero glared at him.

"If you aren't up for the challenge, leave. I need Hunters right now, not simpering pacifists. Consider this a test. No pain, no gain. This is a time of crisis, pal. It's time for you to live up to your standards." Zero paused, then softened the blow he had just dealt.

"X, I know you can do it." With that, Zero warped out of the park and back to the remains of his base. X shook his head for a moment.

"Zero…if you keep this up, we're all doomed." X turned around, not believing all the destruction that he had caused. This was not the last of it. Even if he wasn't a great fighter like Zero, the world needed heroes.

And X was as good as they came. Hey, if his big brother Mega did it, so could he. X closed his eyes, and then followed Zero's red beam as a blaze of blue.

"Man, look at what they did to my mech!" Vile grumbled. He had shut it off, but it would need repairs-and a new paint job. Sigma and the others came down to the hold, walking from the pilot and living area. Storm craned his regal neck, then looked at his leader.

"So, now what Sigma? From what Vile's bug in the arm part picked up, they already know about our fortress." Sigma nodded.

"They know it will exist…they just don't know where. THAT little piece of data is something I had completely erased from the Maverick HHQ Computer Banks. But it is not built yet…that will take time. Time that we cannot afford."

"So, what? You talkin' a diversion here, Siggy?" Chill quacked. Sigma nodded.

"Each of you, except for Vile here will make tracks to some part of Tokyo. Wreak havoc, reprogram robots, do everything in your power to make your area a cause for concern with the Hunters. The base should hopefully be completed by then." The eight Hunters, now Irregular Hunters nodded in unison, then went back to their posts at the Death Rogumer. Sigma turned to Vile.

"You will come with me to the Hokkaido cliffs. That is where our base will be. I'll need your extra hands to get our builder robots online." Vile nodded, but whether or not he smiled, Sigma could not tell. 

That mask hid a lot of secrets. Like every individual, who also had a mask of their own. Only Vile's was more apparent. Sigma gave himself a smile as he remembered the date and time.

"11 O' Clock, June 4th. Reploid Independence Day. Just imagine Vile…like every other aspect of humans at which we are more advanced…so is our National Holiday."


	7. A Gift in The Glacier

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE **__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

CHAPTER SIX: A GIFT IN THE GLACIER

It had been a total mess back at Maverick HHQ. Sigma's outbreak and rampage had left the entire facility a mess, the only untouched area the sideput Medical Bay, where a flustered and irritable Hazil rolled back and forth from his hospital beds, checking up on the dozens of survivors, all with serious injuries. No one had been unscathed in the attack except Hazil, X and Zero. Even the grizzled Cain now hobbled along on his stick. With a crippled leg, his favorite wooden beam was now a required piece of equipment. X and Zero had managed to get some of the computer bays back online, but it would take a long time and a lot of money before everything was running at max efficiency.

And until that time, only the bedraggled 17th Hunter Unit was partially operational. All the other Units had been obliterated, but the 17th managed to have some survivors. Zero led them, for he was the natural choice after Sigma's escape. The problem was that most of them were inexperienced greenhorns, greatly injured. It would be a long time before they saw action, and Zero often wanted to just set off a nuke and get the inevitable over with.

X walked up to Zero, who was scrutinizing the data readouts he was getting.

"What's up, boss?" Zero turned to X, with a look that acted as a sign. "Don't talk to the Hunter." X sighed.

"That bad, huh?" Zero nodded.

"It'll be another 4 days AT LEAST until the 17th is back up. Until that time, X…you and I are the only ones left to guard against the threat." The words sunk in, but now X was so embittered it hardly affected him. 

Zero couldn't believe the circumstances behind it all. The pride of the Maverick HHQ was now either turned maverick, or destroyed. The miniscule remnants were in traction and comas, and only himself and the loose cannon X were remaining in full battle order. Zero knew that any full frontal assault would be a worthless gesture at the moment, the mavericks were too strong. And he himself had to remain behind and make sure everyone was prepared. Therefore, X was the only person who could do anything. Zero didn't trust the blue greenhorn. Even if he was strong, he was reckless, rash and inexperienced. 

All of them aspects that led to failure. Zero could not rely on X for any good measure of aid. And X could only get better if he had experience. Therefore, Zero was left with one decision.

X would have to go and fight the mavericks by himself.

"Listen, X. You're the only person we have who is able to do anything at the moment." X shook his head.

"What about you?" Zero glared at him.

"I have to make sure that this place recuperates, buster. Now listen up. As the only active Maverick Hunter, I have an assignment for you." X peered over, a look of worry on his face. 

"What is it?" Zero punched a few buttons, and the broken overhead screen flickered to life, bringing up a map of Tokyo. High up in the Northern region stood Mount Fuji.

"Chill Penguin has set up a base of operations up there. All of it has been iced, glazed and turned into a winter dangerland. The lush trees are no more, X. It seems that the reason for this is very simple; the mavericks have already caused chaos and panic. Now they're going to deliver the final blow. If he gets enough snow up there produced…" Zero paused, rubbing his eyes wearily. "If enough snow is produced, X, he can start an avalanche." X gasped. An avalanche of that magnitude would flatten Tokyo with snow. Everyone would perish.

"I'm taking a big risk here, X. This mission is imperative that Chill is destroyed, you got me?" X nodded. He took a step back, and then warped out. Zero sighed again, sitting down. For once, he felt old. Old and unable to do a blessed thing.

The toughest part of being a leader is sending your men to die. Zero had no feelings of emotion towards X, but he did have a level of respect for the reploid that had halted the Highway invasion. 

"X…take care of yourself." Zero said, then walked out to check on Hazil's progress.

Little did anyone realize that something else was happening, deep below the ground. Five motionless capsules lay in wait, and then suddenly sprang to life, flashing lights and making bleeping noises.

They had been activated because they had received a message from X's systems. A message that the weary Dr. Light had hoped the capsules would never have to receive. X was going to war. The first capsule opened its top, turning into a mighty self-contained mole drill. With great force it sped upward…upward towards the base at Mount Fuji. The others were also on, but they waited, waited for instructions of location from the tiny unnoticeable thought transmitters in X's Control Chip.

The frosty mountain air, which had once been warm and humid hung dryly as a blue beam shot down from the sky, a coalescence of particles, light and phased matter. When it landed, the pieces de-jumbled to form the figure of X. He looked around himself; Mount Fuji was truly a Winter Wonderland, and he could see on farther parts of the mountain jutting overhangs of ice and snow. He took a breath, surprised to note that when he exhaled, the air condensed into a thick mist.

"X…examine beauty later, friend." X shook his head and began to run towards his destination; the volcanic geological survey buildings which undoubtedly held Chill Penguin-and the avalanche equipment. It was pretty quiet, nothing but the sound of his heavy boots crunching down the wet snow. Fallen cyber-trees all around him, a combination of organic and technological parts to keep trees alive. A measure that had been drastically needed after the geo-problems of the early 21st Century.

Then, without warning a chunk of cyber-tree was flung through the air at X. He could not dodge it, and the heavy chunk hit home, devastating his armor and tacking down his internal operations energy. After he took a breath and primed his Buster into ready mode, he saw the problem.

A robotic logger had chopped the tree chunk loose and sent it at him. And Chill had even had the audacity to make the thing give a fake chuckle when it hit something. X growled in disapproval and started to run towards the problem. The logger's tree regrew, and he chopped another chunk at X. But X was prepared, and he leapt on top of it. It carried him back a ways, then he jumped off and continued forward. Already the logger was shooting a second chunk, but X yelled a furious war cry and fired his Buster, a magnificent level three blue blast. It disintegrated the chunk, and hit the logger. A chaser follow up of small pelt shots completely obliterated the logger, but no energy capsule was left for X to obtain. He shook his head and continued. He'd have to be more careful after that. 

It was a long run to the first building, as he encountered rabbit drones with earguns, more robotic loggers and a few bee bomber drones as well. But he made it inside. As his eyes grew accustomed to the dark, he could hear a fluttering of wings, then he saw them. Bat drones, basic facility workers reprogrammed for kamikaze air attacks. He kept going down deeper into the facility, blasting bat after bat, and one gave him an energy pellet that restored half of what he had lost to the logger. As he reached the bottom step, he saw that everything had been glazed. He'd have to make full use of his abilities to get around in here. More bat drones and even more Spikys got in his path, then he reached a dead end. He stood, puzzled as to where he should head next…

When a Spiky landed flat on him and clearly gave the answer. Up. Still, the blow was vicious and X was down to about 75% power.

"Great way to learn. Get hit or get smart." X grumbled, rubbing his sore cranium which already received enough punishment from Cain's walking stick. He jumped up the wall, then leapt to the small overhang from which the Spiky had dropped. He was surprised to see another level above; the next floor of the facility.

"This place is like a hotel." X chuckled, bringing himself a joke. "Room service, I have mavericks on floor ten. Could you please come and take care of it? And bring some more toilet paper. I've got the runs something terrible!" X smiled, and for a moment the severity of his task wore off. Even for a brief moment, X dropped his warrior guise for that of what he used to be; a being in life who only wished to live.

But he stopped himself as another Spiky came rolling towards him. He raised his Buster and fired off 2 plasma pelts, destroying the robot wheel. Then he continued on, and hopped up another incline. A run back the way he came, and another leap of faith after that. Then, nothing but solid wall stood before him. A direct climb up. X took a deep breath, then jumped high against the frozen stone and concrete, making a rapid series of jumps back and forth, like wall jumping. Then he stood victorious, looking down at the hole he had just emerged from. He turned and began to walk forwards again…

And stopped in wonder as he gaped at a glowing blue capsule with a red fusion top.

The capsule was identical to his own; similar in every respect except for the blue energy shield which surrounded the core. It stood tall, the red top flashing off a strobe every few seconds. 8 meters wide by 14 meters high. He cautiously walked toward it, not knowing what to expect from the foreign but familiar object. As he drew closer, he was unknowingly sending off a powerful beacon. A beacon to which only the capsule could respond, at the only frequency for which that beacon and the receiver would click together. A perfect match, preventing all other access from others that were not X. The blue shield came down, and then X gaped in shock and amazement at what he saw.

A ghost in the machine, Doctor Thomas Light. Even if the hologram was blue, X could make out his creator's unmistakable features; the big white beard, the portly belly, the long pants, the out of place lab coat and the heavy set mouth and eyes. X stared at it, his mouth opening and closing. He was groping for words, but none would come forth.

"Father…father???" X finally managed to stutter. The hologram did not respond. But it couldn't. It was merely a recording, nothing more.

"So you've come at last…" it said somberly, the hologram of Light shaking its head.

"X, I gave you the ability to choose your own path in life. And I hoped the world would let you choose a peaceful one." Light paused, giving a faint chuckle of insane sadness.

"If you're listening to this recording, son…the worst has happened. Now it seems you are destined to fight. You've been forced to be like your older brother, Mega Man. Savior of a planet and its people." X tried to speak, but found he couldn't. Tears were his only signs of response.

"Because I thought the world might need a new hero, I have buried other capsules like this one. Find them and you can increase your abilities beyond anything the world has ever known." Light's hologram opened its arms broadly.

"Step into this capsule and receive an acceleration system to boost your speed." The hologram gave a last, sad smile, then began to fade out. "Good luck, X." The hologram blipped out in a final blink, and then X found himself looking into an empty capsule. His single tear fell to the frozen floor, turning into a rivulet of ice as quickly as it hit.

"Father…I never said hello." X plodded towards the capsule quietly, somberly. He would do what he was required to. Even his own creator had accepted the possibility of it all.

He would make them proud. 

A few seconds later, he emerged from the shower of energy, and looked at himself. Only one part was changed; his boots. Now they glimmered white with gold trimming, and when X ran a diagnostic, he saw where it fit in. The 'optional' Emergency Acceleration System in Light's original schematics. This was that system. Dash boots, just like the ones Zero already had. He had gotten his first weapon of war, from the most unlikely source.

His father.

He emerged from the inside of the monstrous facility, and Chill Penguin was nowhere in sight. X shook his head. His new dash system had taken some getting used to, but now he knew everything it was capable of. Massive dash jumps, incredible blazing ground speed…no doubt this system would prove to be a very useful one in the war ahead. 

When he jumped over the stone checkpoint that marked distances between facilities, X saw a most incredible sight before him.

It wasn't a capsule of Light's, nor Chill. But a massive, mighty…AND UNOCCUPIED…Chimera Riding Tank. A small smile crossed his face as he jumped up into the cockpit. The controls were pretty simple, and he found he could jump, punch and also DASH in any combination of ways. He calmly walked forward, the massive legs keeping in action by the hydraulic pumps. Then a barrier stood before him, an igloo. X shook his head and raised his Buster, firing off a shot.

It bounced off like a bullet. X frowned, then charged up and fired a level three blast. That also ricocheted. 

"Ah….FRACK IT ALL TO HELL!" X finally yelled, slamming his fist sideways in anger. But he accidentally hit the punch switch, and the behemoth's right arm swung out and destroyed the sturdy structure with one jab. X looked at it, then smiled. He quickly moved to dash, and then as he saw the pit he hit the jump button on the control stick. He whistled through the air, smashing head-on with a mosquito drone that got stuck in the tank's armor. X looked up to see if any more drones were coming, and instead saw a ledge above. He looked forwards.

"That isn't a ledge-that's the roof!" X said. Then, a thought flashed in his mind. The enemies were in the building. If he took the roof, he'd save himself some trouble. He leapt up, and then disengaged the Chimera, leaping from the cockpit and digging his hand and heel into the wall. After a series of jumps, he stood on the roof, facing a pair of ominous igloos. 

"Why would Chill stuff igloos up here?" X suddenly realized why as several mosquito drones flew out, chasing him. X ducked down, mentally activating the dash thrusters into action. As he sped off, he made a mental note. Those mosquitoes were guarding something, like a mommy bird guarding the nest. Probably something valuable. If and when he got better firepower, he'd return and figure out what that was.

For the most part, X had acted like a coward. This would upset the battle hardened Zero…but he could stuff it, X thought. His energy was high, and he planned to keep it that way. His charged Buster(yes, charged) fired off, destroying the snowball the nearby Snow Shooter had fired off. X had named the drones that himself, for that was about all they did. 

Of course, the snowballs held explosive charged in them, but it was the same principle. With a thrust from his boots, X stood below the demon and grabbed the drone by its one little insignificant leg. He didn't even bother to shoot at it, he just stared at it for a moment and then shrugged, tossing it over his shoulder. The robot broke apart like a simple model and X walked on.

Until he could go no farther. Then, he realized he was facing the main building, the one with the computer consoles-and most likely Chill. The door, a sliding door opened as he approached, and X slid inside The door shut, latching itself to a locked position, and a frightened X stopped. He turned around, and shrugged grimly.

"Oh, well. Not like I expected to walk away from this anyway." He'd give it a shot, of course. But X somehow felt like he should have written out a note saying that UNICEF could take his worldly possessions.

He walked down the icy corridor for a while, stopping at the second door. He took a breath, for he could hear clicking and quacking behind it. Yes, Chill Penguin was inside all right. His loud mouthed beak was unmistakable. X took the final step, making a broad entrance. If he was going to go out, he'd do it in style.

Inside, Chill was quacking merrily. Sigma's plan was working Jim dandy, and within minutes his planned avalanche would engulf the city. He even began to sing, making a little diddy.

"Oh I am the Icy Penguigo! Bad guy of ice and snow-if you don't run, taste my Icy Shotgun, and be frozen in clammy glow." Chill finished the chorus with a round of quacking. He was so intent on his work and congratulating himself, he had not bothered to look at the robotic sensors, which would have warned him that someone was coming. But a very loud noise did stop him dead in his tracks.

Clapping. Slow. Deliberate. Clapping. Chill turned around in surprise, to find himself staring at X, the tiny blue reploid who had caused so much trouble during their initial escape.

"Bravo, Chill. I see you've kept that blasted horrible song-singing ability." Chill smiled. So, X wanted to have a little verbal banter before Chill frosted his skull into dust? Fine.

"Who says it's horrible? The Hunters always said I did great."

"The Hunters were always drunk half the time." Chill quacked out loud, laughing.

"Perhaps they were. But now I am ICY PENGUIGO! Scourge of all that is frosty." X scoffed.

"You make that up yourself, or is this your personal tribute to the Frito Bandito? You don't get a belly like that from running."

"No, I got it from my creator." Chill said, his eyes burning. "So, X. I assume the reason you've dropped by is to try and stop me from doing this avalanche thing."

"You guessed right, tubby." Chill's eyes widened in anger even more.

"You'll have a bloody hard time stopping me, kid." X yawned. Perhaps he was a little too unwary about now, but he wanted Chill to lose any thinking abilities he might be able to use to smash X with a devious trick.

"Bloody? You been hanging with Storm too much. How is the old sod?" Chill smiled with realization.

"Oh, he's just cooking up something else in case this plan fails. And if you're trying to fluster me, it won't work. So, save your breath for when you need it-like when I freeze every part of your body."

"I don't breathe."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I keep forgetting that our tiny tyke reploid tries to ACT human, but he ISN'T." Chill suddenly stopped charging towards X with a belly slide. X saw it coming, and jumped up onto the wall, gripping it. Chill bounced off, spinning away. When he got back up, a powerful blast of plasma blasted him back down to his back again.

"YOU BLASTED $)@^&!+)&^!!!" Chill screamed out. X smiled. He had gotten the first blow, but he knew that Chill's portly frame held powerful armor, and it would take many more hits to bring the bad boy down. X waited for Chill to make another slide attack, but instead Chill gave a confident smile and leapt high up into the air, soaring across the massive internal chasm of the battlezone. X froze, unable to do anything. And the simple fact was, even if he knew what to do, doubtful he would have done it. X was a rookie, and rookies freeze up under pressure.

Chill's body smashed X to the ground, pinning him helplessly, and also racking up massive amounts of damage. X groaned, and Chill laughed.

"Not so tough now, are you boy?" Chill raised his head, and X saw what was coming. Chill was going to encase him in any icy casket. With lightning reflexes, X raised his Buster and fired shot after shot. Only a few actually did any damage, but the major goal X had wanted was done. Chill was forced to back up many feet, and X regained some breathing room. but the attack had been devastating, and now X was chugging along, his medical recovery systems running at 60% power. If the power went to 0, X would find himself dying, either by microfusion generator overload, or by simply losing so much blood and vital fluids and body parts that he would simply pass out, totally shut down. 

"Nice moves, shrimp. But it's gonna take more than that popgun to take me down." Chill grunted. X frowned, and began to charge up his shot. Chill reared back his head, and then suddenly shot it forward. What emerged from his mouth was an ice pellet whose power lay in the incredible velocity. X saw it coming, however, and with his dash boots now in action he backed up and leapt onto the wall. X squinted, trying to judge the distance. Then, finished with his internal measurements, he jumped off the wall, his dash boots giving him an added kick of power that sent him soaring. Chill, still busy with his Shotgun Ice blast's finishing stages saw only that X was not where he should have been.

"What the…" Chill began, only to be interrupted by the noise of a hard landing behind him. He quickly swiveled, but not fast enough. X stared him down.

"Surprise, you grounded grouse!" X let loose of the trigger, and the massive blue ball of power that he had been storing was released. X was so close, Chill didn't even have time to squawk out a cry of surprise. The plasma blast overcame Chill, hitting him dead center in the chest and sending him sprawling backwards. Chill coughed out in pain, then slumped back down to the floor.

"Oh, man. X, where the devil did you pick up those dash boots? I thought you couldn't use those…" X smiled inwardly, but his face was stone.

"Call it a gift from the glacier." X fired off a green blast, but Chill got up and then sent himself into a slide, his upper armor deflecting the shot with ease as his velocity built up an electrostatic charge around his front, which repelled the super-hot plasma. X saw it coming and found he dashed not away from Chill, but towards him. With a well timed jump, X soared over the oncoming bowling ball of Chill. But Chill bounced off the wall, returning on the same line towards the retreating X.

"You can't run, BOY!" Chill quacked in anger. X thought otherwise as he dashed again, giving himself another long jump that sent him smashing into the wall. The impact would have been enough to cause any human to pass out, but X's shock absorbers did their trick, keeping him from even slight harm. Chill popped up, and saw X crouching into the corner of the wall above. Chill smiled.

"You think you're safe?" X frowned.

"It's better than down there." Chill quacked. 

"Think again, my friend." Chill leapt up into the air, and a frightened X jumped off the wall. But it wasn't a dash jump, just a regular. And when Chill landed, he quickly turned around and began to exhale. Exhale frosty, cold freezing breath. When X landed, the cold liquid oxygen encased him and he found himself unable to move. He couldn't even bat an eye, and he wanted to scream. All his pain and cold sensors were numbing the brain, screaming at him for escape, relief. Just to be anywhere but here. Even his medical regenerative energy was yelping at him. Chill frowned at the statue for a while, then whistled his tune again. 

"Well, well. An X-sicle. Nice. If you'll excuse me X, I have a city to bury in snow and ice." With the flick of a switch, a massive control mechanism came down from the ceiling, and the portly Chill Penguin leapt up with the grace of a gazelle. He grabbed the ring lever, and a massive snowstorm began to build outside, and even in the room. The heavy, wet frozen water built up, and then Chill's forces began to pelt the mountain with explosives. Mount Fuji became a channel for the massive snow wave, and even encased in a frozen tomb X could feel the low rumble of its power building up. He wanted to scream, he wanted to stop this maverick. But he couldn't. He was trapped. 

But liquid oxygen does not last in that state for long, and it quickly sublimated into gas. The oxygen rich air around X became an enormous power cell for his accumulative energy generator and energy amplifier. His microfusion reactor took the oxygen, peppered in nuclear energy, and what emerged was plasma, building around and in his Buster. Within less than a second, he had a full blue blast built up. He looked up to see Chill not even looking down at him, too busy quacking away at his success to realize there was a grain of sand in his gears.

That grain of sand was X. X let a small sound emanate from his throat, which built up to a loud yell. He dashed to the side, jumping up the wall. As he reached the top and began to slide down, he let loose of his Buster's trigger and the plasma blast soared along in the air, until it struck Chill Penguin dead on. Chill let loose of the switch, falling to the ground, hitting it hard. X didn't let up, as he jumped down and began to pelt away with several pulls of the trigger. Chill, unable to defend found his vitality draining away until he was hanging by a thread. He panted several times, until he was staring at X, whose switch was depressed, charging his shot.

"You're good, X. But even if you defeat me, the damage is done. The avalanche has taken place." But X didn't let his gaze slip. They were both in critical condition-now the final shot would decide who would emerge victorious and who would remain a pile of scrap.

"That is something to deal with later, Chill. The fight ends here-and now." Chill quacked, like a laugh.

"What, you want a shootout at twenty paces?"

"That's the idea." X stared, Chill stared. Then Chill reared back, and X released the switch. Blue plasma bounced off of glazed ice, and Chill quacked in superiority. He could hardly wait to hear X's microfusion reactor go critical. But as the blue burn phased from his vision, Chill's eyes widened in fear. A tiny, unnoticeable but still very deadly shot was searing along. There was no time to react. Just time enough to say one word.

"CRAP!!!" The white plasma bullet struck Chill head on in the face, and then his world went black. His generator, unable to allocate any power to his regenerative systems went critical as it overloaded. Chill Penguin ceased to be as he was blown apart by a miniature atomic explosion. 

X stood fifteen paces away, panting heavily and looking at the scene which he had helped to create. He walked over, a part of his Buster crying out for something. He reached down with his left hand, his Buster hand and touched the now crumpled head of 'Icy Penguigo.' His systems brought up his Weapons Array, and he saw a new item form on the menu that rested in a corner of his eye; Shotgun Ice. X sighed. He knew how to use it. He just didn't want to. He shifted from the light yellow and blue to his blue armor with the white and gold boots, then walked to the center of the room, warping out with only one thought on his mind.

"I did it, father."

Hazil was examining X as the tiny blue reploid recharged from the attack with a look of concern-and possibly even pride, X thought. Just then, Zero and Cain walked in; okay, Cain hobbled in. Zero smiled.

"You did it, X. You whupped Chill." Cain nodded.

"It seems that X has found his path in life at last…" X frowned, looking down at his shiny new footwear.

"I guess so." Cain saw that X didn't want to go into it any further, and he changed the subject.

"X, not only did you eliminate Chill, but you stopped his plot to envelop the city I snow. For the most part. Zero has some new info for you." The red Hunter stepped forward.

"X, a substantial amount of snow was released from Fuji before you stopped 'Icy Penguigo.' Luckily, it didn't do much, just took out an area with heavy drifts. Including a factory…" X looked up. 

"So, it's a factory. Nobody's working there anymore, remember?" Zero shook his head.

"Well, no HUMAN workers are." That caught X's attention. Zero continued. "When our Hunter forces went down to stop any mavericks that might try to take advantage of the confusion, we found that several mavericks, including Flame Mammoth had bottled themselves up in the factory. Intel seems to point out that he's building more of their numbers. Needless to say, this is a bad thing, X." X chuckled softly.

"And let me finish here. You want ME to go play hero again?" Zero nodded.

"That's the general idea." X winced, for he had said the same thing to Chill.

"And would you mind telling me just where the blazes you'll be when I go off to commit professional suicide?" X said. Zero frowned.

"I'll be out and about, trying to figure out just where Sigma is trying to set up his base. We know he will…just not where." X's head drooped, for he was still weak.

"Why me, Zero?" Zero shrugged.

"Why not you, X? You're the perfect candidate. Someone who the mavericks think can't fight for beans…but someone who can, as is evidenced by your attack on Chill. They're not going to expect hostilities from you. If I went there, they'd be full alert. They know I can do it." Zero's reasoning was lacking one element he did not let slip from his tongue. Zero also didn't want to wager on X's aid in the big attack if he couldn't handle the minor aspects he was getting assigned.

Of course, nothing anymore was a minor situation, Zero thought with sad irony. X sighed, then slumped back down weakly. Hazil rolled over, a frown on his face.

"Okay, kiddies. Visiting hours are over. X here needs his rest-he's got a big day tomorrow." Cain sighed.

"Right, doc." Zero and Cain began to walk out of the room, but then Cain turned around.

"X, where'd you get those white and gold boots?" X looked up, a sad smile on his face.

"It was a gift…A gift from the glacier."


	8. Saint Sigma's Fire

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

****

CHAPTER SEVEN: SAINT SIGMA'S FIRE

"Well, X, you're at full stamina again. Just don't go doing any triathalons and you'll be fine." Hazil said, adding the joke to lighten the mood. His voice wasn't the smoothest; for the most part it sounded rough and scratchy. X unhooked himself from the recharge pod in the medical bay and stretched. He quickly examined himself from head to toe, making sure every function worked. He even switched to Shotgun Ice to make sure his Buster's Adaptive Weapons Array was working properly. The sudden shift of X's coloring caused Hazil to nearly fall over as he stumbled backwards in surprise.

"What the blue blazes of all that's holy---" X smiled.

"Chill, Hazil. Chill. In both terms of the word. This is the Shotgun Ice blaster which I got. Maybe it'll come in handy." Hazil's wide eyed face nodded slowly.

"Perhaps…you ARE going to a smelting factory." X nodded.

"Right. You seen Zero?" Hazil shrugged.

"He took off this morning, bright and early. I suppose we went with his forces on training." X sighed.

"Great. It looks like he's deadset on me handling this alone." Hazil nodded.

"I don't think he'd give you his true opinion, but I think I know what this is; a test, X. Plain and simple. He doesn't trust you…well, he doesn't trust your abilities as a Hunter. If you impress him, then what you'll have is a friend for life in him. Fail-and you'll have an enemy." X raised his eyebrows.

"I never got how that worked." Hazil nodded in agreement.

"Neither did I. Nevertheless, as a medical doc I've seen plenty of faces in my day, enough to know what they mean. And right now-the face I'm wearing means you're being a nuisance. So get your blue blazes outta my sickbay, Mr!" Hazil said, giving a laugh and a semi-serious grin. Firm enough to make X go into action, not enough to offend his tender emotions. X laughed back, and nodded. He shut his eyes and began to phase out, until within less than a second he became a cluttered beam of light, energy and scattered particles, shooting out of the roof towards the designated location;

Flame Mammoth's old factory.

When X warped into the facility, he found himself on a calm area of concrete. He shut his eyes for a moment, remembering how proud Flame was when he got his job here. Flame loved to play with metal, to bend it, shape it, form it to his will. How he could crush it with a mere stomp of his heavy foot. X chuckled softly, almost crazily for a brief moment. How ironic that during even the greatest rebellion of all, the lovable reploid had chosen to go back to his home. Loyalty in all of the rebellion. 

"Flame, you old sod. I'm sorry you had to be a part of all this." X said finally. Flame and Boomer had been his best friends in the Unit, because he had known them before the Hunters were created. X couldn't help but wonder-how would Flame respond? Shoot on sight, not have the gumption to do anything but ask X to leave? Surrender? That question faded as X had an even more chilling thought;

What would HE do when they met? X shivered at that.

Then he knew he wasn't shivering because he was frightened-it was BLASTED COLD IN THIS PLACE! X looked down at his feet-a deep layer of snow and ice covered the floor, and as he looked ahead he could see even the great smelting pits had had their fires doused. X chuckled. No doubt Flame was hating this cold streak. 

And it might make X better able to overcome him.

X marched forward, his Buster held high and charged as Zero had taught him. His ringing words still shrieked in X's ears.

"If you aren't firing your Buster---CHARGE IT!!!" X smiled. Even if Zero was a maniacal, bloodthirsty, violent and hotheaded nutcase, underneath all that cover lay a part of him that told X that through the aggravating lessons, Zero was saying quite plainly,

"I care for you. And I don't want to see you die just because the other guy's smarter than you, X!" Of course, X reasoned if he had mentioned that to Zero, he'd get his face stuffed in the mess hall potato gravy.

He brought himself back to the present as he stopped at the edge of the great smelting pit. Propped high above it was a series of conveyor belts with flying helicopter drones(X shuddered as he thought of what the insidious mavericks had reprogrammed THAT little moving drone to do), laser wielding Scrap Robos(Yes, they were junk) and massive piles of junk, all falling down from chutes and rolling along the belts with only one thing on their mind before they were melted down to make new reploids;

Destroy all invaders. Then X looked down. Yeah, the smelting pits were still frigideezed. So, did he go up on the belts, facing dangerous, suicidal odds, or go down below like a coward and let them be?

"DUH." X said as he hopped down to the frozen pits. He quickly dashed his way across the bottom, narrowly avoiding hitting the lower belts as machinery crashed into piles, no longer being smelted but turned into junk by the hard landing. Then he emerged on the other side…

And was promptly picked up by a roving Sky Claw. Its two huge arms held him securely, and the struggling X was unable to get away as it moved forward. Suddenly, X felt hotter and hotter. He looked up to see that the robot was flashing critically-THE DAMN THING WAS SET TO BLOW!!! X tried to get out, scrambling, kicking his legs and every other move a child might employ. Then X got serious and propped his left arm up, turning it into a cannon with ease. With speed that was more of fear than reflexes, X shot a tiny blast and blew the hinge off one of the arms. He slid quickly out of the now destroyed grasp, and just in time. As he was about to hit the ground, he was shoved into it by a slight concussion, then was littered by bits of hot metal and still fusing particles in its engine. X shook his head, spitting out the foul taste in his mouth.

"Cowards. They set it to self-destruct."

He slid down the wide tunnel, which he guessed once held an elevator from the looks of it. Now of course, that weakness of machinery that only humans needed was gone, and X found himself playing 'Rappelling into the fiery blazing pit of death' once again. He had done so with the Bee Bladers, he now did so with a factory.

Not just any factory, he reminded himself. Flame's factory. No matter which company had owned it, because of the strong link with which X had with Flame and his life it would always be that way. Now as he dropped the last five feet, X saw that unlike the previous smelting pits, this one had active workers. Dig Labours, from the looks of it. Robot workers who could wield any mining or manufacturing tool with ease, thus becoming multipurpose. A function which in the modern world was a requirement for any advancement. Dig Labours had been around since before even Mega Man went tromping off to play hero, and X found that very ironic. However, he reminded himself, they were also built to be durable. In the many roles they served, that was necessity. 

He'd have a bugger of a time deactivating them. Nevertheless, X saw another option; the frozen pits. Oh, the Dig Labours would still be trying to get at him somehow or another, but he wouldn't have to face them directly, and X wasn't confident enough to do that. As X began his continuous mad dash across the frigid metal, that same ringing question kept ringing in his ears;

If he wasn't confident enough to face mere worker bots, how could he hope to destroy Sigma? X put that one aside, content to have only one ulcer on his mind at a time. But then, as he moved farther and farther from the end he had just jumped in, a glint caught his eye. It was red, it was spinning, and it was tantalizingly attractive.

"A Heart Tank?" X mused. Why would Flame place this treasure down below, so close to the metal? Then it hit him. Flame could withstand heat. Getting it would be no problem for him, but for anyone else they'd have a devil of a time.

Of course, Flame never considered the possibility that an avalanche gone right would have given easy access to it. X grabbed the gleaming treasure, mentally opening his chest compartment. It was wide, and had plenty of space in it. And some space was taken up as he plugged in the Heart Tank. X could feel energy searing into his systems; new life, even more internal operations energy on his meter. X's stamina had increased by two notches, and he felt a lot safer as he moved back out from his tiny corner.

Until, of course a Dig Labour threw the tool it was used for at him. The blade soared through the air in a low looping arc, cracking into the cold metal at his feet. X froze, then looked up to see the Dig Labour chuckling, its robotic belly heaving up and down in a steady rythmn. X smiled as he raised his Buster.

"Surprise, Dopey." X said as he let loose with the plasma blast, chasing it up with several other shots. The 'bot fell in loose pieces, looking for all the world like Disney's clutzy dwarf in Snow White. X sighed and hopped up.

"Well, at least I know that Boomer made a visit here. That guy's the only one who ever wanted to see drones smile." X stopped suddenly, his heart racing; what if Boomer was still here? He'd have to face the both of them instead of one. He'd have a tough enough time with just one robot; he didn't need the both of them causing hassles. Somewhere in X's frame came a shudder of fear, and his mind began to race backwards.

"What am I doing here? I'll get killed! Others will get killed…" X's mind raced on and on, without stopping. He was caught in a glitch; a glitch of self-preservation. Just then, a looping pickaxe fell down, crunching into the back of his neck. That broke X free of his trance as he turned and swooped into action, running ahead and shooting his Buster in a wild fashion, shot flying in every direction. Several Dig Labours fell, deactivated. But even more remained, and now each one was facing X with a silent, unthinking fury that was programmed. But X didn't care. He was in a frenzy, a frenzy brought on by fear, exhaustion, stress and all the negative emotions he had experienced in the past few days. No speaking, no thinking.

Just response and reaction.

"Hey, doc." Zero said as he walked in through one of the holes in Maverick HHQ's walls. Cain sighed.

"Back so soon?" Zero nodded.

"Word on the street's mum, Cain. The 17th had a bit of fun messing up the remaining forces."

"And one member of the team is out where the REAL action is, remember?" Cain said, his tone harsh. Zero felt the implication as a concerned Cain stared bloody murder into his skull. Zero took his helmet off, revealing a tangle of blond hair which was the connector for his long ponytail.

"I know, doc. I know. It isn't exactly something you forget." Cain reached over with his stick, smacking Zero on his unprotected noggin with a vicious swipe of his now permanent walking stick.

"Damnit Zero, that kid has gone through more Hell than any of us!" Cain said, and he knew he spoke the truth. Cain had lost Jim, X had lost Cancer. But X was fighting and facing his old friends. Cain just sat around, like the cripple he was. Zero was doing the thing he loved, fighting mavericks. There was no remorse there. Zero rubbed his head, but let his eyes flare up.

"Oh, really? How about the hell we'll face when we have to make the assault on Sigma'' base?""

"The assault can't even take place because you aren't living up to intel standards. And Zero, you REALLY don't get it, do you? Long before you showed up, even before the Hunters were created, X was friends with 3 of them; Flame Mammoth, Boomer Kuwanger, and Sigma himself. Now, he's faced with the only decision he has been given. To kill them." Zero listened, but nothing sunk in. He was totally indifferent to it all. Emotion was something he thought was an interference, nothing more. Cain was tempted to slam Zero's head to the cement, he was so flustered as the red demon's nonchalant mood.

"Cain, you know as well as I do why I sent X to play hero." Cain nodded.

"Because you're too cowardly to do the job yourself. Or maybe because you can't face your old allies." Cain spat out the last sentence, and Zero felt stung by it. The words hurt, and for a brief moment, Zero lowered his stone wall. Perhaps he WAS acting selfishly. He didn't trust X. Fine. But Cain did, and after everything X had done…

"Maybe I am wrong, Doc. But if is going to stand an ice cube's chance in hell of living through the Sigma assault, he needs experience. Experience he is getting." Cain let a tear roll from the corner of his eye. He was upset.

"And in the mean time, X might not survive anyway." Zero didn't bother to respond. There was nothing more he could say.

X had been running for his life for a very long time. The high rafters offered little protection from the hordes of 'bots, each of which had activated when X's presence had been sensed. He would shoot at them every once in a while, but mostly their durable frames resisted his attacks. Eventually, he passed the last line. But the only problem was he was now facing the direction from which he had come, if not a hundred feet higher. 

"Shoot!" X cursed at himself for being so lost in battle. Mistakes like that-losing concentration at the most critical incidents would get him killed. X had to calm down. And to do that, he would continue backtracking until he found a safe place to rest. He jumped up to the highest possible ledge he could reach, and found a very large energy capsule. X laughed in relief and absorbed its energy; his meter was once again at full health. But as he looked down the narrow walkway, another threat presented itself. 

Metool C-15 Units, and plenty of them, too. X had to whistle in astonishment at it. Metools were the most versatile of robots, even older than the Pickaxe Bots which followed. Metools hid under cover of their impenetrable hardhats. Nothing-nothing but a severe heavy crushing weight could disable them when they were under cover. The C-15 Series was just the latest. And X could remember diagrams of them, as well.

"If I remember correctly…these buggers have plasma cutters. And if Sigma's had the same 'brilliant idea' that Wily did when he played tinker with these bots…they'll be shooting plasma, and plenty of it." X sighed. He'd have his work cut out for him now, but he couldn't give up. 

And hey, he was a Hunter. These guys were nothing more than metal and microchips. X held back his fire. If one so much as twitched-it'd get it. He held his position when he was standing three feet in front of it. X waited, then crouched down. Sure enough, the Met responded and lifted his helmet, preparing to fire. But X had been waiting for that, and the force of his plasma supershot overwhelmed the tiny bot. The inside totally vaporized, the hollow shell clattered along. A reminder of death. But X felt no remorse. They were robots, nothing more. Not reploids, like the friends he would have to destroy.

Like Flame and Boomer. X continued back along on his way, wiping out the last of the waiting Mets, then he found himself looking down at oblivion. X cringed. A fall like that would damage him, and he didn't want to quit this early in the game. Besides, he had full health.

But another opportunity presented itself as he looked straight in front of him. A massive wall, which extended to a point where his drop would cause no damage. But X had to make a successful dash jump to make it.

"Oh, well X. Gotta learn sometime." X said to himself. With a deep breath to fuel his courage, X backed up a few paces, then prepared himself for his leap of faith. He activated the thrusters in his boots, which sent him half-kneeling into his stance as he screamed along the narrow podium. X timed himself, then made that critical jump. Not letting go of his inertia, he strained against the air, begging for every inch of climb he could make. Then he began his fall-ten feet away from the wall. At that speed, there was literally no distance that he dropped. He collided with the wall, and then by instinct scrambled up the side as quick as he could, trying to compensate for the height he had lost. But somewhere along all those jumps, his boot slipped.

"What the?!" X cried out. He looked down to see loose chunks of stone crumble away where his boot had been. He slid down, and found what he was looking at. A wall of loose stones, very durable he noted, as well as the pain it gave his hand when he tried to punch it. But somehow, his new boots had done the job admirably. So, without further ado as to what might lie behind the blocks(No doubt another present Flame had his forces conceal), X smashed the rest of them to rubble.

He had to smile when he saw what he did, and the shimmering object even prompted a few notes of 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas' from his throat. It was a Sub-Tank, an object that the mavericks had stolen the entire stock of, and prevented the Hunters from re-obtaining. X plucked the Tank from its hiding spot and inserted it into his Chest Compartment, next to the glistening Heart Tank. 

With that done, X finally had to fess up and slide down the wall, continuing the job he had been given. He finally stopped sliding down and dropped the remaining distance, looking around. But as he looked at the path where he had trod before, his eyes wandered upwards to where the ceiling lay.

That as well was plugged up with breakable blocks. X scratched his head.

"This place already had a Heart and Sub…what more does Flame think he needs?" X finally shrugged, giving up.

That could be worked on another day. Now, he had to stop Flame's operation. And if this place was anything like it used to be, X could expect Flame had set the metal compactors to motion sensitive, and a few troops just hanging about here and there.

At least he didn't have to worry about falling in the molten slag.

Farther on in the factory, Flame trod back and forth along the final assembly belt, cleared off. The Death Rogumer had shown up about 15 minutes ago, taken a load of metalloys for construction of robots. Robots which the other 6 Irregular Hunters, Vile and Sigma would use to help them build their weapons of war.

SIX Hunters, Flame thought angrily. Why did X have to get involved in this? He didn't want X to get hurt, and already that fool had taken out Chill's operation.

And ruined his molten pits in the process. Flame's load he had given the Rogumer was one he had done up before. Until those pits got re-heated, there would be no more outgoing metal.

That was what clinched it for the mighty Mammoth. 'Burning Noumander' would have a few words to say to his buddy.

And maybe a few punches, too. Friend or not, Flame was a maverick, a part of the Hunter's Rebellion. And nothing would stand in the way of that cause.

X dashed his way across the final conveyor belt, narrowly avoiding the intense hydraulic piston that smashed down and shook the room with incredible force. He wiped the synthsweat from his brow and examined himself. Aside from some minor scratches which had no effect on his internal operations energy, X was just fine. And better yet, his new Sub-Tank was completely full. X had an exhilarating feeling, like anything that life threw at him, he could overcome. He had beaten one of the Irregulars, was chasing after another-had nearly halted the maverick's escape.

And now it wasn't that far to go until he met the next. Of course, that one question still nagged at him; what if both Flame and Boomer were there? Twice the trouble. The reason that Sigma's Elite Unit was so feared was because the Unit's cohesion was incredible. When they were together, nothing could stop them.

And even two of them paired up would be too much for X to handle.

He stopped thinking about things he could not control and focused on the matter at hand. He slid down the second empty elevator shaft in the complex, and kept walking forward. A series of pipes, cooling pipes which kept the factory from going under by its own heat stood in his way. And what was even more surprising was the lack of forces X saw. Perhaps Flame thought the maze itself might be enough to stop anyone.

Of course, Flame hadn't been expecting a fight, X noted grimly. Whatever his thinking, it must be very plain to Flame that X was here-and he meant business.

As he approached the first part of the maze, he noticed that the pipes were leaking coolant, coolant which could damage him if he touched the drips.

"Looks like the system is out of commission." X noted. And it made perfect sense. The coolant had nothing to cool, so what happened was the system's pipes had overcontracted, and sprung leaks. He continued on, and he climbed up the first ladder he saw. 

He was then promptly smashed aside by a mace. X cried out and took a hard look at his new foe. A Hoganmer. A simple robot drone armed with a plasma shield which did menial construction programs. Only now it had been armed with a mace and chain, giving it the ability to attack. X knew any attack he threw at the robot while it was hidden behind its shield would fail. Therefore, he could only attack when the robot did.

The robot swung back its mace arm for another swing, and X readied his Buster for a max shot. The mace came, and X jumped over it. The chain itself he also avoided, and then X fired his shot. He was so close, the Hoganmer didn't have a chance to react.

The Hoganmer was vaporized by the blast. X looked up ahead. He had a while to go yet, with even more of those Hoganmers to face. But he would make it.

As a Hunter, X WOULD succeed. 

Flame was angrily looking at the newest figures. X's rampage had cost so much damage, he estimated another THREE weeks now before anything got operational again. He even trumpeted loudly to relieve his anger that he felt. But it didn't help much. Flame's operation was still in shambles. Like Chill's. Like the escape. And if he failed to stop X…possibly every other operation his Irregular Hunter allies were constructing. They relied on him for the raw metals to make their robots. And without his factory working, he couldn't forge that metal. 

Boy, he hated X right now, Flame thought.

"X, if you were here I'd stomp you on the head!" Flame bellowed, smashing his fists against his chest.

"You don't have long to wait, Flame." Flame nearly fell over in surprise at that remark. He twisted around, and then got something he never thought he would.

A direct X-Buster hit to the ribs. The plasma shimmered as it ate away at his armor, and Flame screamed in pain. He leapt aside, letting the plasma dissipate in the air by itself. But the damage was done. Even as his medical recovery systems worked furiously to fix the damage X's attack had done, Flame knew he had lost energy to this…insignificant threat. Flame stared down the long conveyor belt of his room and stared at X. An X who no longer smiled, no longer waved or shared views on philosophy.

This X wanted to kill him. Flame tried a tactic on him.

"Hey, X-so you're a Hunter now. But you don't wanna kill me, do you?" X didn't budge. He didn't speak. Flame chuckled nervously, but as he did, he readied his own special Flamethrower Cannon for a shot. Maybe a little verbal banter. That always set X off guard.

"So, X. I assume you're here to play hero, right?" X gave a very slow nod. Flame continued.

"What if I wanted to surrender, and spare the both of us systems damage? What would you do?" X shrugged again. Flame shuddered. Boy, was this guy cool. Or maybe it was just the room temp.

"Well, I'll tell you what, X. I'll surrender to you." X blinked, then lowered his cannon.

"You REALLY would do that, wouldn't you?" Flame smiled, but inside he was gnashing his teeth.

"Oh, YES. X, you were---ARE---my friend. And I don't want to think that either of us should hurt the other. Friends don't do that. But X, would you like to know WHY we're doing this Rebellion?"

"Because you've turned maverick." X said warily, but he still held his cannon down. Flame gave a slight nod.

"Perhaps, X. But more importantly…because humans hate us. They fear us, because they know us to be stronger. That is why they created Hunters, so that through us they could still control everything. But X…" Flame paused for a moment, letting it sink in.

"X, the control is OURS. Do you know what The United States Constitution says?"

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all mankind."

"EXACTLY. They left it like that because we're outcasts. Robots were created to be SERVANTS. Not friends, not allies…slaves, X. Slaves. All we're doing is making our own Emancipation Proclamation." X shook his head. Flame was speaking volumes of information, sweet talking X from fighting him.

"X, you always said you didn't know what life had in store for you. Doesn't it make sense that you should aid the race you helped to create in their greatest hour of need?" Flame said, his eyes literally pleading at X to stop the fight.

"But---"

"But, nothing, X. You fought for a reason. Because you feel loyal to these creatures who would just as easily deactivate you as reward you for being their savior. Even your older brother, Mega fought to save those pathetic creatures from their own frailty." 

But that was the one thing that suddenly flared the flames of X's rage to full heights again. He raised his Buster, but didn't fire. Flame would have to make the first move.

"Lies, Flame. Mega fought against a demented being of the same race who thought he was too high and mighty to play nice. He fought for justice, for law. He fought to protect the beings who always greeted him with open arms, the beings who had given him life. And I fight for a reason that rivals his…" X let go of the trigger, and his massive blue supershot soared along. Flame saw it coming, and leapt high into the air, planning to crush X underneath his bulk. X roared in anger and dash jumped away, readying another shot. Flame landed, and the floor shook. But X continued to speak.

"I fight because you speak of light, but practice actions of dark. You killed innocent people…so did Wily. You killed Cancer…you plunged the service which had given you so much into darkness. And as long as you exist…" X finished his sentence by launching the supershot.

"As long as you exist, the reploids will NEVER know peace. Because they'll be too busy trying to wipe away the shame that your movement has brought them." Flame screamed as the shot hit, unable to dodge even slightly as the attack bored into him. X continued to pelt away with smaller shots which sent Flame to the floor in shock. Flame raised his long snout of a trunk and futilely flung a glob of oil at X. The glob hit, but X didn't let up. Flame finally mustered enough strength to bellow in rage, and that signaled the conveyor belt to reverse itself. X found himself moving slowly away from Flame as he struggled to get up. Flame raised his cannon, and fired puff after puff of fire at X. X jumped the first, but the second came too quickly for him to avoid. The oil sprung into life as it burned, and X screamed as his systems cried for relief. X was being enveloped in fire.

Saint Sigma's Fire, X thought grimly. But an idea flashed in his head. He brought up his weapons array, and chose Shotgun Ice. He turned the Buster on himself, and fired a shot. The frosty particle collided with the burning grease and froze it stiff. The flames sizzled out of existence, and X brushed the remains off of him. Sighing, X shifted back to plasma. He looked at Flame, who looked at him in awe.

"How did you-"

"Shotgun Ice, Flame. I took Chill's weapon for my own. I will do the same when I destroy you."

"You can't destroy me, X. I'm your friend.

"My friend was a Hunter, and would never cause innocents to suffer." X glared, continuing to charge his shot. Flame chuckled.

"Friends change, X. Perhaps it is you who has changed…by standing still."

"You quoting an old play there, Flame? That's my turf."

"I didn't know you had claim on it. But I'll tell you one thing you WILL have claim to, X-" Flame said as he leapt into the air. But X growled and dashed to the side again, leaping into the air to avoid the ground shake. But just as quickly as Flame landed, X turned his Buster backwards fired the shot. 

It hit, and Flame finally collapsed. His systems were utterly beyond repair, but his microfusion reactor didn't go critical. He would just fade-fade away. 

Still, X walked over to his dying enemy. Once his friend. Flame wheezed, trying to speak. 

"X-X, why did you betray us? You-you're a reploid as well. You gotta know we're fighting for all of us-" X crouched down and stared at Flame, not in rage but in pity.

"Poor, poor Flame. I'm sorry this had to happen. But before you die…I am not a reploid. I am better than reploids. I am the original. I am Mega Man X. The last defender of earth." Flame didn't have time to respond, he merely groaned one last time and then blinked out. X examined him.

The control chip was totally fried. Flame was dead. And nothing could bring him back. X was a hardened Hunter now. But still, a tear fell from his cheek.

"Flame, I wasn't lying. I am sorry." X lowered his left hand, and absorbed Flame's power.

The Fire Wave.

X's blue beam landed back in Maverick HHQ, and within seconds a glaring Zero was standing beside him.

"Well?" Zero asked as X blinked at him. "Did you do it, X?" X couldn't contain himself any longer. He swung his right hand in a powerful hook that contacted Zero squarely on the jaw, and he stumbled back a few steps. X glared back.

"You bastard." X said, his voice more of a croak as he held back his tears. "You send me off to destroy my friends, and you ask me if I did it. Yes, I did it. I was there as I watched Flame's life sputter out like a dying candle. I just hope you're satisfied, you monster." X stomped off. He had to recuperate in Hazil's medical bay. Cain hobbled in, a look of concern on his face.

"What's wrong with X?" Zero smiled as he rubbed his sore jaw.

"Nothing, Cain. Nothing's wrong. X just got a little stronger."

"Are you saying our little boy's growing up?" Zero shrugged.

"I'm saying I trust him more." Cain nodded. If Zero could admit X had promise, that he could trust him-there might be hope yet.

Something had happened to X as he had come back from the recent mission. X had been forged into a warrior.

Forged in the flames of Saint Sigma's Fire.


	9. The Wild Blue Maverick

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

****

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE WILD BLUE MAVERICK

"Storm, report!" Storm Eagle awoke from his semi-nap as his alert eyes glanced at the flickering screen. There stood Sigma, ever stoic and serious. Storm quickly leapt up and threw a salute.

"Sir!" Said Storm. Sigma waved his hand.

"Storm, you can stop saluting me. I asked you to report."

"Right away, sir!" Storm blurted out. He brought his hand down and went to parade rest. "Sir, things are a bit behind sh-eduule right now. That limy bugger X has just taken out Flame Mammoth's metal factory, I'm afraid." Sigma rubbed his chin.

"It seems our friend X is more than a handful. Before, it was our escape. Then it was Chill…and now Flame. Storm, don't underestimate him if you run into him. He's beyond himself now." Storm blinked.

"Beggin' your pardon, sir, but what do you mean…beyond himself?" Sigma frowned.

"Before we did our breakaway on June 4th, X was very close friends with Boomer and Flame. If somehow he's found the inner strength of mind to put his humanity aside and just do his job…we may all be in trouble. The bonds we held with X will be no weakness to him. Treat him as you would any Hunter, Storm. Like an enemy. Shoot on sight, got it?"

"Yes sir!" Storm clacked his heels together and involuntarily threw another salute. Sigma grimaced and turned the connection off. Storm nodded.

"Right you are, sir. Even if he is just one reploid and a novice Hunter…that's no reason to underestimate him."

X looked at the diagrams of the Maverick HHQ reconstruction. It had been about a week, and since then things had quieted down enough he had been able to focus on the rebuilding, as well as his training.

After his physical outburst in which he struck Zero, the Crimson Hunter had come to X with a greater sense of trust. Not saying that Zero was CONCERNED about him, X smirked. But enough of a trust in X that Zero was giving him extra help in training. 

Still, X thought whenever he did a good job on the shooting range, he saw a glimmer of a smile glance across Zero's face. His skills with his Dash Boots and his Buster were greater than they ever were, and X found himself now fighting with more than his emotions.

Thanks to Zero, he began to THINK about how to fight, instead of just doing it. And X still had the full Sub-Tank. Not to mention, X noted calmly, two Heart Tanks. After he had taken Flame down, he'd gone back to Mount Fuji and roasted the igloo on the building rooftop. Stored inside was Chill's glimmering Treasure. He could only wonder where he might find similar artifacts. Just then, a klaxon went off. He winced, and cursed at the device.

"We get a full frickin' week to get this place on its feet…AND THE FIRST THING WE FIX IS THAT GODDAMN HORN?!!" X groaned and jumped from his seat. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he opened his scarred door and dashed down the hallway to the war room.

"Don't tell me, boss." X sighed. "We've found out where to take on the next Irregular Hunter." Zero nodded.

"Either this is getting repetitive, or you should quit and start a psychic hotline, X!" Cain joked. X frowned at the doc.

"Cain, I got a bone to pick with you…" Cain nervously coughed.

"Err, right. The alarm. Sorry, X. But that's primary equipment, like the war room. Zero growled at the both of them and reached in his chest compartment, pulling out a C02 Air Horn. He released the trigger, and the loud noisemaker went off with a 120 Decibel Squeal. When X and Cain uncovered their screaming ears, Zero put it away.

"Let's get back to what's important, shall we?" X nodded.

"What's the situation, Zero?" Zero clicked a button beside him, and the viewscreen above flashed to life.

"It seems that the Death Rogumer's been having some fun parading about the city lately-namely they've been dropping off some more robots to wreak havoc. Most likely it is a diversion to keep us away and busy from any other efforts they might be making…"

"Like the building of Sigma's Fortress?" X said, tapping his arm in quiet anger. Zero nodded.

"Dead on the money, X." X couldn't help but smile, for now his leader was giving him compliments. "In any case, the Death Rogumer has shacked up at the New Tokyo National Airport for some fuel hijacking. Naturally, the Death Rogumer being the airship of choice for our plucky maverick friends, and the means to which they are getting around makes it a primary target on our 'to fry' list. If we can shut that down, we shut down their abilities to move on us." Zero turned the image off.

"X, over the past week I've come to see that you are a true Hunter in our ranks. I'm not assigning you this mission…but I hope you'll take it." X blinked.

Zero? ASKING X to do a mission? X was all smiles inside, but he held a blank expression outside. Still, the exhilarating feeling he felt from that simple gesture of Zero's was enough to reaffirm X, and give him the courage to take it. If his leader trusted him enough to do this, he wouldn't let him down.

"Zero, I'd be honored to take down the Rogumer. But if I may ask…where's the 17th gonna be?" Zero smiled.

"Why, playing cleanup, of course. While you're taking out the root of the problem, they're gonna be clipping the leaves and branches. The Rogumer left them quite a mess to save the town from." X nodded.

"All right. Will you be with them?" Zero shrugged in response.

"I gotta, X. But I'll have my comm open. You need any battle advice, just give me a whistle." X gave a quick salute, then warped out to his destination.

Cain turned to Zero, a quizzical look on his face.

"Alliteration? Weeds and roots? Zero, if I may say so, you've become a bit more poetic lately."

"Maybe, doc. But anyone would if they hung around X for too long." Cain laughed, waving his stick.

"Oh, to be young and bloodthirsty…"

High above the level fields of takeoff ramps lay a veritable maze of towers and skycrapers. Here, in the New Tokyo Airport lay Storm Eagle, making repairs and obtaining more fuel. His forces ran amok throughout the area, and even the gulls avoided it. Only one thing dared to break in on the party of pestilence at the 'port.

A bright warped beam of Mega Man X. When his particles crashed to earth and re-jumbled, X blinked his eyes, noting how high up he was. Any fall would mean fatal doom to him.

"They like to pick their comfortable environments, don't they?" X muttered. Chill with his snow, Flame in the foundry, and now Storm rising high in the clouds. He flicked his wrist over and activated his comm.

"Zero, do you read?" Static, then the Crimson Hunter's reply.

"Four by four, X. What's up?"

"Just where is Storm from my location?" More static.

"It seems he's set up a field generator around his ship and the immediate vicinity. You'll have to make it there by foot, X. About two miles ahead, and I'm reading heavy emissions. Expect lots of company, including those robots who might be reprogrammed." X nodded, even though he knew Zero couldn't see him.

"Understood." X clicked off the comm. Thousands of feet above death, and two miles to it. X had to chuckle at the irony of that.

"What a way to go. By land…or by air." In either case, X knew it wouldn't be pretty. He only had his wits, his boots and his Tanks.

And that meant he could not fail.

It was a big straight walk along the roof of the control tower he'd landed on, and the only structure higher than him on it was the giant beacon tower, but that was one detail that did not concern X at the moment. All his focus was on the mission. A mission that held critical importance to stopping the Hunter's Rebellion.

"Boy, they sure gave Siggy's breakaway a lotta names…" X mused quietly. "The Hunter's Rebellion, the Maverick Uprising; it's like they can't make up their minds." X's mind began to wander, as it often did. Images flashed before his eyes, images of life before June 4th…

And standing there was Cancer, grinning from ear to ear at the pie he'd just smothered in X's face. X felt a pang of remorse, but he was long past the stage of depression and mourning. It was time to act, to fulfill the last wish of his dead friend. To stop the threat, so no more would die. So X could have a road in life to follow. But even as he trodded along, a sentence came to him. A sentence which X would have scorched into his mind for years.

"With war, there are no heroes. Only mourners." X shook his head. "Focus, X. Focus. 'But Master Yoda told me to be mindful of the future!" X laughed at his own reference to a long standing movie series.

He stopped at the edge of the roof, looking across the gap. A Hoganmer not giving him the time of day, a few Sky Claws(rigged to self-destruct, X noted angrily)and a bunch of fuel canisters. And no way to get there, even with a dash jump.

Just then a platform came up and struck him in the chin. As X stumbled backwards, he cursed at it, then stared at it. In between him and the other building was a conveyor belt system with vertical platforms riding it. He could continue his mission! But first…X would have a few words with Mr. Roboto, as well as roast those fuel canisters.

After all, that WAS what the Death Rogumer came here for.

The Hoganmer had been as predictable as the ones in the smelting factory, and when X had roasted the canisters he had found to his surprise an energy capsule, which he then used to recharge himself from his recent abuse. X made a note to himself to check any of the other possible fuel sites if and when he found them.

A quick dash leap off the ledge, and he was riding high on the platforms. The Sky Claws were persistent buggers, but X found that a Level Three Supershot always did the trick. A level two would have sufficed, but the smaller size made it harder to get a hit.

And boy, were there a lot of Sky Claws. 

"Storm must like his flyin' robots." X grumbled as he destroyed the next one. A few more feet higher and then he took down another. X squinted his eyes against the sun, trying not to freeze by looking down below at the fields which would mean his death. 

"Not much higher nowwwwhatthedevil?!" X cried out a sentence so close to his last one, they emerged unintelligibly. A Sky Claw roared overhead, too high up for X to brace himself from the force of the shot he would have to make to destroy it. That meant he would have to run. But run where? To fall to his death? And if he tried to jump to the side of the building, the Hoganmer below him would pick him up on motion sensors and knock him off.

No, X thought with a chill. He would have to go backwards. And so it was his choice that X turned a full about face and pulled off a very short dash jump, whistling through the air like a falling meteorite back to where he came from.

"OhmiGooooddd!!!" X screamed as the tower came flying up towards him. With a sickening thud, X smashed on the top of the control tower, leaving a massive dent in the roof. Below him, he heard screams from the people in the tower, but it was his own pain he focused on.

"Floor seven…shirts, ties and lace panties…" X groaned as he lifted his head weakly. The damage was more to his mind than his body, for his visual sensors recalibrated from the jostle and his vision de-blurred almost instantly. And then the dazed look on his face vanished as a smile replaced it.

"Oh, goody! Christmas in the Summertime!" X chuckled and leapt to his feet instantly. Minor damage, really. His energy had dropped by two units, but not enough to concern him. He was looking at his new toy;

Storm Eagle's hidden Heart Tank.

"Figures. Leave it to a bird to roost high above, along with his toys." X grabbed the glistening red object and jammed it home in another slot of his Chest Compartment. His energy increased another 2 notches, and X suddenly realized he had a lot more internal operations energy than when he began all of this. He pumped his fist powerfully, letting a smile cross his face.

X was performing marvelously, and his skills were also increasing. He turned his head and looked up.

"Great. Now I just gotta retrace ten minutes of work!"

X did manage to get to where he would have gone originally, but on the way the destroyed Sky Claws had been replaced by others, effectively making him run the gauntlet twice. With a final lunge of his body, X flopped to a landing on the top of the building. The markings on the side read '2001', but that didn't matter to X. All he knew was he had a long way to go, and the task wasn't getting any smaller.

"The life of a Hunter…" X bitterly regretted every cold stare of disgust which he had bestowed upon them, and felt even more enraged at those who still continued to squirm in discomfort. Even Cancer in the end saw how important they were, and humans saw only beasts fighting beasts in the name of justice. "We put our lives on the line every day…and those who hate us continue to do so." X pounded his fist on the roof. He, too had been one of them. But even he rolled around and saw the need. "Let the warriors fight the true demons…so they can pick up the pieces and claim glory." X spat out the words angrily.

He would stop the threat, but now he knew he was a Hunter. He'd moved beyond anything he had ever been as just X. The simple realizations of his new path and the experiences they held had emboldened him to feats considered impossible to him. Inside X churned a bubbling cauldron of conflicting emotions; between X and the Hunter. And he knew there was only one solution.

"The Hunter fights for the peacekeeper." X shook his head. Incredibly, he noted how mentally refreshed he felt. He flexed his arm and smiled. "A little mindplay makes your day. Better than apples, right Cancer?" X looked up, and in the glare of the bright blazing sun he pictured his dead friend, still smiling with that look of childish fancy.

"Perhaps you knew what was coming better than any of us, Cancer. Maybe that's why you died…" X took off at a pace, leaving the cloud of saddened emotions behind with its rainy cousins.

A different X might have tried to fly away from it all. But not this X, the blue Hunter noted. He would not run.

He would avenge.

X ran into some Megamechs along the way, but when he saw platforms moving up and down at yet another tower, he knew he had to investigate. Blasting away at the last chugging behemoth, he dash jumped lightly onto the jet-powered platform, and it took him up. Up to where another platform lay in wait, and then higher up from that the tower itself.

He leapt lightly on the side, so lightly it didn't even rattle the plastic window panes a bit. Staring inside, he blinked a few times as he took it all in.

"Great. The central hub of 'el Airporto.' And who's guarding it? A megamech." X shook his head. The central hub was the computer mainframe who controlled the air traffic. If the mavericks managed to destroy it… 

X couldn't let that happen. He pulled back with his right hand and swung it forth in a straight punch. He could HEAR his metallic knuckles fracture on impact.

"GAWDFRACKINDAMNIT!!!" X yelped as he pulled back and shook his hand wildly, as if hoping that by some miracle air resistance would cure the shooting pain creeping up his arm. He glared at the window pane angrily. "You wanna play hard?" X blinked his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again he was emblazoned with red and orange. Flame Mammoth's Fire Wave would be his weapon here.

Plunging his left arm forth, he let it shift into his Buster and depressed the trigger. Unlike his basic Buster, which charged plasma, or the one shot Ice Shotgun, the Fire Wave kept firing a continuous stream of hot flames. The plastic windowpane gave way almost instantly, and X literally fell into the building. With a heavy thud he collapsed on the floor, then ashamedly scrambled to his feet and looked around, his Buster still active.

What caught his eye was an object lying on the ground without a care in the world.

"I get the feeling they really don't expect me to find these sometimes…" X grumbled as he swiped up the Sub-Tanks. His words were truthful, for often they were hid in the maverick's area where the Irregular thought only he could obtain it.

But X always found a way to find them. Most of the time it was by sheer luck or stupidity. X hoped he could predict them a bit more often, if only to prove to himself he wasn't as green as the others thought. X looked on and saw the Megamech just chugging in place at the center of the room. X quietly tiptoed up to it and raised his Buster.

"Surprise, bubby!" X grumbled as he depressed the switch. The hot flames licked angrily at the drone, melting it into a pile of slag within moments. X whistled. Unlike his Buster, or the Shotgun Ice, the Fire Wave had a nasty habit of just racking up hit after hit in a very short time. X checked the energy gauge. It had 75% left of its energy.

Weapons energy was based on a separate meter. Like the medical systems of X, the Adaptive Weapons System was based on how much energy was left in the micro-tubule. The microtubule provided the matter and energy for a specific adapted weapon, producing everything from condensed water and metal in the Shotgun Ice to the spark and flammable liquid of the Fire Wave.

Zero ducked his head down, narrowly avoiding a scrape with the heavy tire that swung through the air. He lifted his Buster back up and fired off the charged shot he'd been holding back.

"Sir! They have us surrounded!" Zero looked over to one of the 17th's members with a frown.

"I know that, Taskin. I just have more to worry about at the moment." _Like your life, Greenhorn,_ Zero thought angrily.

While X had gone off to stop the source of the problem with Storm and the Rogumer, Zero had taken the remains of the Hunters to stop the squabbling mess it had dumped in the streets. And at the moment, the Bee Bladers and the robotic drones were getting the better of them. Of course, they were being led by a REAL maverick. A flesh and coolant fluid reploid gone bad. And that meant their attack was coordinated, unpredictable…and very deadly. 

Zero was blown to the side as the two Bee Bladers launched a salvo of concussion missiles, blowing away the only cover that the Hunters had. Zero kept his head lowered, but gritted his teeth and raised his eyes. All around him was chaos…one wrong move meant death to him and his team. There was no time to plan or speculate on strategies.

Zero knew action was the only prudent course he could take. He raised his Buster and let loose of the charge. The slithering blue blast swiveled through the smoky air, striking the rotor assembly of the Bee Blader closest to him. The effect was instant; the body of the beast fell like the heavy chunk of metal it was, flattening the unwary Ball De Vouxs underneath. The rotor blade of the Blader, unhinged from the base which contained its power for lifting the robot, twirled through the air at over 3000 RPMs, sliding sideways by the wind gusts. The deadly, swirling blade of destruction flew through the ranks of Crushers, obliterating them instantly and sending their Crush bases to smash into the Gunbots and megamechs below.

Even Zero froze for a moment, transfixed by the destruction and incredible randomness of his one shot. But as his Hunters began to pelt back at the remaining forces, he joined in gusto.

It was over that quickly, and Zero walked over to the one prone figure who lay bleeding and coughing under the rubble of the conflagration. The maverick glared at Zero for a moment, then spoke one final sentence to Zero.

"You may destroy me, but you will NEVER destroy Sigma." Zero raised his Buster, a sheer look of cold steel in his eyes.

"I wouldn't bet on that, maverick." Zero released one plasma burst at the maverick's head, which fell back as a smoking pile of slag. One of the Hunters walked up to Zero, a look of utter shock on his face.

"You…you killed him!" Zero swiveled in place, letting his icy stare freeze the Hunter in his tracks. He prodded his Buster in the Hunter's stomach, and stopped his protests cold.

"He would have killed us, just the same. Whether you like it or not, this is war. And there are two ways to act in one; You can be one of the Hunters, or one of the Hunted. And I think I'd like to keep my chances as high as I can. You understand?!" Zero growled at the end, getting his point across very clearly. The novice Hunter gulped, then nodded his head. Zero sighed, then walked off from the destruction to warp back to base.

"All these greens, and not a drop of muster between them." Well, there was ONE, Zero thought with a smile.

And that particular Hunter was off playing Duck Hunt.

X scrambled up the side of the giant red wall, holding his fire back. If there was an ambush behind it…and he could easily place winning bets on that… then they'd get more than they wished to deal with.

But as he stood on top of the structure, he saw two ways to go. "High or low, which way do ya go?" X mused for a moment, then snapped his fingers.

The low road seemed to work better with him, and if it didn't this time, he could take the high one. X slid down the other side as quick as he had scampered up, then dropped the last few feet. With a hop, skip and jump he found himself facing wall. He scratched his head for a moment, then shrugged. "Must be the maintenance bay. Of course it's empty! Everything's been reprogrammed to take me out." X sighed, then walked back the way he came. 

But he stopped for a moment, and looked up with the experience he had gotten during Chill's takedown; look up, or you might not look again. What he saw was a ledge he had not seen before. X jumped into the air. Drat. He couldn't reach it. Then an idea flashed into his head. He ran over to the wall, hopped onto it, then turned about and blasted off of it with an extremely powerful dash leap. 

He soared through the air, then stuck his left leg forward to brace for the impact. His systems held strong as he collided with the wall of the ledge, then with no further quarrel the ledge gave way as he ascended to the level.

He had to whistle at what he saw. "Another bloody fuel depot. Oh, well." X shifted into his red and orange getup, then shot out the hot licking flames of his Fire Wave. The canisters of jet fuel gave way easily, exploding with savage fury of pure destructive energy unleashed. When X opened his eyes from the blinding explosion, he whistled again.

"Deep and deeper, curiouser and curiouser the rabbit hole goes." X trod inwards, holding his fire, not knowing what to expect.

But when another blue capsule sprung up from the ground, X blinked in surprise. Light had graced him once again.

The hologram's speech was shorter than before, and did nothing else but describe the upgrade's function. Part of X still longed for a deep chat with his father, but another part of him merely nodded and accepted the gift of the Helmet.

That part was the Hunter. And until the threat was quelled, it was that part which X would listen to the most. As he jumped up against the pile of crumbling rocks, his new helmet smashing through the loose rocks, X let a tear fall from his eye.

And he swore in that final drop that would be the last drop he would ever shed for a capsule.

The rest of the trip seemed like a blur to X. Nothing he could really recall, it was just a run and shoot operation, occasionally picking up enough extra energy to fill his second Sub-Tank. And then he stood at the edge of solid ground, looking at the menacing but unmoving frame of the ship which had done so much to cause harm. It was almost the symbol of the Maverick Uprising, for the Death Rogumer was the signature transport for them. And X knew he could not let it stand one minute longer.

He hopped from hoverplatform to hoverplatform, knowing that straying on one for too long meant a long drop. And then with one final leap, he stood on the prow of the mighty ship, looking over its frame.

X had never been this close to it before, for before Sigma and his Hunters rebelled he had tried to avoid their working conditions. Now he saw how that experience might have helped him. "Hindsight is always 20/20, X." X chuckled, for that was something Cancer had said to him many times before. He walked along on the ship, but then cried out in surprise.

The Death Rogumer was taking off. And he was on it. He crawled to his feet, gritting his teeth. Storm wouldn't get the better of him, even if he was taking X to his area of expertise. He looked up, then ducked his head back down again as a shot of plasma scorched the air above him.

Damn! He'd almost forgotten about the twin plasma cannons above. Luckily, X was stronger than them.

Ten seconds later, the cannons were nothing more than smoking holes of their former selves, and X was crawling down into the ship itself.

And five seconds after that, the top half of the Rogumer exploded into scrap as the Rogumer became a giant, flying platform. A platform which crept ever higher as a confused X looked around.

Then a flutter of wings alerted X, and he turned about to see Storm coming from above to land on the Rogumer's deck as well. 

"Storm."

"X." The conversation was terse and short, and X held back his Buster for a massive attack. And somewhere within the core of his being, he knew this would be a fight he would not long forget.

"So, the great Hunter has decided to grace us with his presence." Storm spoke in a mocking voice, but watching X's Buster very carefully. "And somehow, the bugger's managed to get some new gear. Boots and a helmet!" X nodded.

"I've had a few encounters."

"So, I assume the great Zero sent you to play hero and destroy the evil Rogumer, eh?"

"That's the idea, bird." Storm glared at X, lifting himself to his full standing height.

"You listen to me, you miserable whelp. This ship is my flesh and blood, and I'll be damned if you take it out!"

"You've already done half the job yourself, Storm."

"Minor details." Storm waved his clawed hand nonchalantly. "I can rebuild it, but I knew that if I left it standing, you'd be having a field day. Needless to say, I can't have that." X nodded.

"Fine. So, you gonna stand here all day sipping your tea, or make a move soon?" Storm sighed. 

"I figured you limey Hunters would be whetting your whistle for a fight soon enough. Still, I am honorable to some degree, X. I will give you a fight."

"What was your other choice, Storm?"

"Just to shoot you outright when I was above you, knock you off the Rogumer and send you falling to your death within moments." X shivered. That was a bit too descriptive. "Not saying of course, that I won't try to do the same anyways." Storm raised his right hand, not a hand at all but a permanent turbofan. With a powerful gust of tinted wind, X found himself being flung backwards like a twig in the wind. X cried out, but then an idea flashed in his head. Bracing his feet, he activated the Dash Boots and counteracted the gust. Soon, he stood within range of Storm and he released his own shot. The fiery blue plasma struck home, but Storm did not even stumble to a knee. He grunted in pain, but pushed it aside.

"Those boots are more than decorations, aren't they?"

"Dash boots, Storm." Storm shook his head, and flew up in the air, pausing just outside of X's range. 

"Perhaps you'll get a kick out of this, my friend." Storm pulled back his beak, then pulled it back, a giant blue egg collapsing from it. X watched the egg fall transfixed, but then as it cracked open, he saw what Storm had been doing. Four tiny bird drones flew in a straight line at him, and X could not dodge.

As he got back up to his feet, X could tell this would be a long fight.

The two were evenly matched in all categories. X found a Buster shot or the Fire Wave would wipe out the egg before it broke, and Storm found if he caught X off guard with his wind tactics, he could almost get X to fall. But when it came to Diving from above, Storm soon realized X was getting better and better. He came to the earth and launched another egg, then began to beat his mighty wings once more in an attempt to blow X off the side of his ship.

"Nice try, Storm. But I know your tactics now!" X cried out. He released his Buster supershot, which disintegrated the egg and continued on its way until it struck Storm. Storm fell to a knee, for now his damage was very substantial. And he knew he'd dealt X a few good blows…it should have been enough, unless…

"YOU…You took my Sub-Tank!" X yawned as he fired off another blast. Storm tried to dodge, but he stumbled and it hit him in the head.

"Not only yours, Storm. I have three Heart Tanks, and Flame's Sub as well. You can't defeat me, for while you'll curl up and die, I will merely recharge myself and continue to struggle. Storm cried out in anger and dismay. He knew he would lose. 

"I wonder what we'll do with your ship when you're gone, Storm…" Storm pulled himself to his feet once more, a steely glare in his eyes which was more intense than it had ever been.

"As God is my witness, X…no one will have possession of my ship but me!" Storm reached in his chest and pulled out a tiny device with a button. X's eyes became large dots as he saw what it was.

A detonator. Storm had decided if he couldn't have his ship, no one could. Storm gave one final sigh, and spoke his peace.

"God save the Queen." Storm raised his hand in one last military salute, then he pushed the button.

The explosives were inside him and the ship's main power drive, and X could barely stand his ground against the concussion of the explosions. When he opened his eyes, he sighed.

"It's probably for the best. A warrior should go out in a blaze of glory, anyways." X grabbed Storm's Buster, blown off and smoking by his foot. His armor turned purple, and he looked around.

He was falling with the ship, and Storm had gone down with it. X didn't know what to do, to give some remembrance of the honorable Eagle. Finally, he sighed and warped off of the falling wreck.

But he didn't go back to HQ just yet. With his new Helmet, there was something else he wanted to check out.

His head smashed through the crumbling blocks of Flame's old Factory, and when he scampered up through the new hole, he found what it had been hiding.

Virtually nothing to Flame's eyes, but when X approached a third capsule popped up from the ground. X smiled, and listened carefully for the hologram to speak.

"This capsule contains an enhancement for your X-Buster." That was all it said, and X asked for no more.

He walked out of there, and noted with amazement his Buster looked for all the world a dead ringer for Zero's. X wondered what his Commander would think of the Level four purple shot and the Maverick Weapons charged abilities.

"Personally, I think it gives you a better chance at getting through this, X." Zero guffawed in amazement. The only part of X which looked the same from when he left was his chest armor, and Zero knew even that held greater things inside of it. Just then, Cain hobbled in.

"X, we gotta talk. Whenever you go off, it seems like your missions always end up doing something. In this case, the remains of the Rogumer have found a home in the Tokyo Power Plant." X whistled, a wide grin on his face.

"Nice. Looks like the city's got something else to bill us for now." Cain sighed.

"I can afford it. Luckily, we might not have to pay. When that ship crashed, it took out the power, and revealed to the scouts who investigated that Spark Mandrill's been setting up shop in it for some time now. He might have tried to reroute power to their operations. Now, all he's doing is trying to get the place back online, and if we act quickly, he won't be able to." X nodded.

"I can handle it." Zero clunked X over his new helmet.

"I know you can, X." X frowned at Zero.

"So how did the cleanup mission go?" Zero tilted his head back, a wistful smile of the chain reaction on his face.

"X, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. It's a loo-loo of a sky high story." X shook his head.

"I think I could believe it. After all…I faced the Wild Blue Maverick."


	10. Electric Jungle

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

****

CHAPTER NINE: ELECTRIC JUNGLE-A 'CURRENT' SITUATION

"Why is it when I go off and play hero, there's always some wide-reaching effect which reveals the next Irregular?" X moaned. He was in the Medical Bay, speaking to no one in particular. Zero and Cain were overseeing the rebuilding of the HQ, which was coming along pretty smoothly now, and Hazil rolled around performing his duties, a blind ear turned towards the blue and white reploid. X sat with his black hair floating freely, his shiny helmet beside him on the resting cot. X frowned. "Hey doc, didja hear me?" Hazil turned, a frown on his face.

"X, you aren't sick. Your systems were just fine when you came in. WHY IN THE BLOODY BLAZES DO YOU HANG AROUND HERE?!" Exasperated, Hazil swung his four arms in wide looping arcs until he calmed down. X smiled.

"Because you're the only one I can really talk to." Hazil raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, really?" Hazil rolled beside X and opened his lower chest compartment, pulling out a set of glasses. Putting them on and prodding his head, he continued in his best Groucho Marx/Sigmund Freud impression.

"Perhaps it's your super-ego taking control of everything." X smiled broadly. He loved ancient early 20th Century comedy.

"Look at it like this, Doc." Hazil stopped him and rolled behind X, looking over his shoulder. He shook his head.

"I can't say that helped any." X laughed.

"Hazil, I mean just listen to me. Hazil nodded and took off the glasses. "Zero is the great leader of the Hunters, and is way too busy trying to keep this all under control to play confidante. Cain, for all his lovable attitudes is a human, and really wouldn't understand what I'm going through. But you…You Hazil, you see destruction every day, and you deal with it in a professional manner. How do you do it?" Hazil gave a wistful smile.

"X, perhaps it's because I learned one lesson long ago, a lesson which has kept me in such a good emotional state through this turmoil." X leaned closer, and Hazil whispered. "I…don't…give…a…rusty…damn." X blinked and leaned back. Hazil nodded.

"Yep, X. I just shut it all out. After a while of seeing the same negativity day in and day out, you get to realizing something. If you plod on the past for too long, it takes a hold of you and you can't move on. Don't take every tragedy to heart. Sometimes stuff just happens, and you have no control over that. You do what you can, and you screw the rest." Hazil sighed. "Boy, I could really use a beer right about now." X shook his head.

"Sorry, I gotta take a rain check on that, Hazil. I have a mission to go do." Hazil nodded.

"I'll be sure to chug down your share as well then." X warped out, and Hazil reached into the medical cooler, pulling forth a frosty draft in the old style silicone bottle. He flipped the lid off and took a deep pull from it. His eyes got misty, and he raised the bottle.

"Here's to you, guys." Hazil meant the toast for every Hunter which had died in battle for their cause, and to every Hunter that would. He allowed himself a small chuckle. "X, even though you can shut it out…sometimes you just don't want to."

"Damn that X!" Sigma cried. He smashed his fist to the desk, breaking it in two. Velguarder lifted his wolfish nose for a moment, then drooped it back down. Just another one of his master's temper tantrums. But Sigma thought differently from his deadly pet, and his mind squirmed at what was happening.

A third of his maverick generals had been destroyed-not by Zero, but by X, the reploid who Sigma had always considered a pacifist. And not only that-he'd been shutting down plot after plot of his plan. The avalanche which would wipe out the city, Flame Mammoth's metallurgical processings, and now the mobility of the mavericks was gone with the Rogumer's demise. They were now less of a threat- a threat still, but now it was the Hunters who had the upper hand. Sigma gritted his teeth. When X or Zero showed their face again, the remaining Irregulars would destroy them. Sigma would see that in that interim, his remaining forces would do their best to wreak havoc. He pulled out his map of New Tokyo and began pinpointing locations of where the others had gone with specific tasks. The one in the most danger was Spark Mandrill, his behemoth ape maverick. And Sigma knew that Spark Mandrill's operation was critical. If his plan to get power to Sigma's main operation failed…Sigma shook his head angrily. He pulled up his comm and hit the channel for Spark.

"Spark, you there?"

"Read you loud and clear boss." Spark's booming voice filled the room, and Sigma might have smiled if he didn't feel so helpless.

"Make sure you have the Thunder Slimer up and running. That sucker may be your only way of halting the Hunters."

"Which one? Zero, or X?"

"At this point in time Spark, consider them both as equals. X has already wiped out Chill, Flame and Storm. Doubtless he would try to do the same to you."

"He won't succeed." Spark's voice grew angrier and more pronounced. Sigma sighed.

"For our sakes Spark, I really hope so." Sigma clicked off the connection and walked out of the room to check on Vile and the Maverick Base construction efforts.

Only one thought comforted him anymore. He'd at least warned Spark of the impinging danger.

X's blue beam warped in with its usual color and speed, reforming into X within milliseconds. He looked around in awe. The power plant was an utter mess, and pieces of the Death Rogumer were scattered in every direction. The power tubes close by were in tatters, and occasional sparks showed X that the plant was far from fully operational. X had to wonder; if Storm had known his action of self-destruction would cause this mess, would he still have pushed the switch? X didn't know. And he didn't know Storm well enough to try and ponder. After all-the Storm he faced was a maverick…not the regal European Hunter of old.

He walked on for a time, steering clear of the constant mess which lay strewn about, each piece a deadly scrap which would cause him harm. And then, he saw what lay in store for him.

"Well, this is definitely Spark's hangout." X grumbled as he switched to Fire Wave. The deadly blast of flames melted away the megamech which stood in his path. "Spark always did like these things. Enough to personalize 'em." Spark Mandrill, as the chief engineer and mechanic of the Hunters liked to fiddle with their robotic helpers. He turned the simple megamechs into very formidable foes, armed with electric discharging capabilities. Spark called them 'Gun Volts,' a name which left a bitter taste in X's mouth. Even Launch got into the 'Lego' kick and helped Spark give them missiles as well. Thanks to those two, X had even more company to look forward to now.

The beginning romp through the power plant was pretty simple for X, and he found himself whistling a merry tune and stomping out words as he went.

"Climb up the ladder, turn and avoid, turn on your weapon, and the bad guys destroyed!" That was how it went, and then X decided to go down. Down and forward he went, running into even more 'Gun Volts' as he went along. And each time the hulks were turned into junk. Then he paused, and looked beyond the thin grilles of metal piping. He grinned and fired a shot of plasma at it, but the shot bounced off harmlessly.

"Dang!" X muttered. He didn't have enough Fire Wave to melt through, and doubtful that would have any effect. He couldn't reach his prize beyond the wall; a Sub-Tank. He'd have to come back for it later when he was done playing 'Whack-a-Maverick' with Spark.

He went through a long tunnel, and sighed in relief as he stepped into a larger room from the confines he had just emerged from. No doubt he would find his abilities in more use than his weapons. Even if X was a Hunter, like he had said in the smelting factories; if he could avoid a fight, he would. There were peaks every now and then, and X shuddered as he looked on to see pits, deadly with their emptiness. "Remind me to watch out for those." X said to himself. He walked onwards, a new outlook in this dire mess-

Only to be promptly shoved backwards as a speedy robot plowed through him. X moaned and checked his bumps and bruises, then blinked. He had no idea what they were…

"Wait a sec here…" X mumbled. He thought for a moment, and snapped his fingers. Of course! "Hotarions." Hotarions were robotic drones who were propelled by an ion drive, leaving a dusty trail behind them as they went along at incredible speeds. Often used for racetrack betting, it seemed that Spark had taken a liking to them. They couldn't take much abuse, though. Their strength lied in their unmatched speed. "Maybe I should call 'em something else." X mumbled as he readied his Buster for charging, preparing for the next assault.

Then it came to him. "Perfect! I'll call them 'Spark Skimmers."

Once X figured out they would strike in the best possible attack points, taking them down was easy. "Easy, right. Like being a grandmaster, perhaps!" He grumbled as the final one skimmed his head. But eventually, he managed to plow his way through the last of them. And then he saw his route.

A ladder lay before him, taking a path to levels below his current escapades. X sighed, then climbed down the mount. He dashed across the ledge, then jumped down to the floor. He walked onwards, and he could see a light ahead, far brighter than the darkness he had been enveloped in earlier. But then, the corridor behind him shut, and he jumped with a start in surprise. "What the devil…" X muttered as he walked on. But as he did, he made sure his Buster was fully charged to the Level Four purple onslaught his new Buster enhancement gave him.

And then, he stood in an incredibly large room, and the doors to it slid shut. His eyes shifted to every corner of the room…and then he spotted the problem.

"Great green ghosts of gangrene!!!" X gasped, his eyes wide in fear. A bubbling mass of jelly hung from the ceiling, and inside its mass lay a large robot, obviously in control of the substance. A voice crackled from the ceiling, a voice which X instantly recognized.

"Greetings, X. I see you've arrived to once again stop our plans."

"If it isn't the great Sparky himself. Trying to gloat here?"

"Oh, no. Just merely giving you some information about my creation hanging above you. It's called the Thunder Slimer."

"Boy, that's original. What are you going to come up with next? The Electric Choo-Choo?"

"Now how the hell am I supposed to do that when it's already been done?"

"Bingo, brilliant. I guess you're a bit more of a brighter bulb than I give you credit for." X grumbled. He could hear Spark fume angrily at the insult, but then the grunting calmed down.

"Fine. If you wish to be that way, I will leave you with your fate. The Thunder Slimer will end your pathetic existence very soon…very soon indeed." Spark began to laugh in his own apelike scream, then the mike in the ceiling turned off. X braced himself, and the Thunder Slimer came to life.

X soon realized how much danger he was in as the Thunder Slimer slid its way across the roof, its optical sensors obviously glancing at him, measuring him up for the attack. It sent a chill down his spine to know that a mindless killing machine was stalking him, and X involuntarily shivered. He looked down; his Buster was still holding at max charge. X smiled.

"Looks like it may be getting a case of indigestion." X jumped up the side of the wall behind him, then quickly turned around and beaded his Buster on the gelatinous mass, still quivering towards him with incredible speed. "Say ahh!!!" X mumbled as he released the trigger. 

It seemed like the Universe itself had come forth and burst from his Buster in all its angry might at that moment. The powerful backflash from the attack was incredible, and he could see two spiraling purple blasts of plasma streaking towards the beast. The plasma scorched into the side of the Thunder Slimer, its power dissipating with every inch of goo it had to encounter. But it still carried enough of a charge to penetrate and strike with the vengeance of a rattlesnake. X saw the entire thing flash with bright intensity as it took the hit, then the Thunder Slimer resumed its own attack.

A stunned X was unable to move as it recuperated, producing more slime to overcome its losses from the attack. Then with a sudden burst of speed, it spewed four blobs of its own mass around the room. One blob hit X squarely, and it stuck to him with incredible power, dragging him down to the floor. X tried to struggle, but he found his movements were useless against it.

"Oh, great…" X grumbled. The Thunder Slimer stood poised above him, and he saw it flash with the electrical charge it built up. He braced himself for the attack he knew would come from the recently emerged electrode at the base of the Slimer; the attack which truly gave it its name. X could hear the whine of the discharge, and he expected the roar of a beast.

What he got was the sputter of an aging, rusted '76 Chevy. He opened his surprised eyes and looked up. Tiny splotches of light sparked from the tip of the diode, but no charge came striking down. Then it dawned upon him with a drunken euphoria of joy…

"It doesn't have the power!" X laughed long and hard at that. Storm's suicidal charges, and the Rogumer's crash landing had saved him again. The same problem which gave the plant insufficient lighting also refused to grant the Thunder Slimer its power to strike out with the lightning lance of death. X looked down at the slime at his feet and held the charge to the green level. He released it, and the slime dissipated with a puff of steam and foul smell. X stood free, and he looked at his weapons.

"Fire Wave'd end this quickly. Too bad I don't have any." X grumbled. He had to find some way to separate the robot from its protective shell of slimy goo…"Wait a sec here-THE STORM TORNADO!" X nodded in agreement with the choice, and his white and blue armor faded for a multi shaded purple and white outlay. He held his fire, for he wanted as much from this attack as he could get. He didn't want the pure forward drilling wind blast, he wanted the ultimate, vertical tsunami which the Buster upgrade could give him.

"Level two…level three…" To X the wait seemed endless as he avoided the bouncing mass, trying to crush him in the maw of its mass. Finally, his Buster reached the maximum level and he let go of the fire switch.

The fury of the Storm Tornado was unleashed in the ten foot wide twister. Plasma energy combined with turbojet propelled air in a maelstrom of destruction, a much more powerful attack than Storm's original arm engine would have ever allowed.

And every inch and every RPM of that weather disaster struck at the mass of the Thunder Slimer, tearing away layer after melting layer of protection, until the tornado had drilled a hole through the shell of slime and bored destructive power into the heart of the robot itself. X closed his eyes and had to kneel, for even he was not fully immune from the incredible monsoon of annihilation…or at least its shockwave. When the storm dissipated, the noise of destruction did not end, but X did not dare open his eyes, for even with his darkening optic protectors at maximum, he still saw bright twinkles flash in his mind.

Then…all was silent. X lifted his arms from his head and looked about. Nothing remained of the once powerful Thunder Slimer. Not a single trace of grimy goop anywhere, for it had all been destroyed when the robot's internal power plant had gone critical and exploded. X sighed. "One less thing to worry about." X walked forward, continuing onwards to the road which led to Spark. But he paused for one brief moment and turned about, whistling in awe.

"But still…this is gonna make one hell of a footnote."

It soon became very apparent to X that there was truly something screwy going on after he left the lair of the Thunder Slimer-now the Thunder Slimeless. Compared to the foes he had faced in the plant before that fight, Spark was sending out twice as much power to confront X. Motorcycling Flammingles, Turn Cannons around every corner…

"Boy, Spark must be pissed." X muttered as he blasted away the Flammingle which stood in his path. Walking through the pile of still smoking scrap, X hopped down the ladder and continued on. He wasn't going to let anything stop him. After all, he did have three Hearts and two Subs backing him up.

Except, perhaps, for the incredibly large and dangerous Hortoise Tortoise which was plopped in his path. As X waited, the hulking purple robot of a turtle fired two air-drifting mortars towards him. They caught the thick smoky air and their chutes opened. With a cry of fear, X jumped backwards. When those two bombs went off…

It wasn't much of an explosion, X noted. "Probably meant for taking out targets with direct hits." X raised his Buster and fired shot after shot of plasma into the Hortoise Tortoise. Finally, the hulk exploded in nuclear fire, disintegrating itself. X smiled and continued up the ladder beyond the black scar on the floor.

"Too bad for our robot buddy I don't like direct hits." He ducked his head down from the top of the ladder, narrowly avoiding the slicing wings of the grounded Flammingle which zoomed above him. X noted it was beginning to turn around, so he jumped up on top of the ledge and wiped it out with a flurry of plasma bullets. Walking towards the source of its arrival, he noted a Hortoise Tortoise a long way off. He held back and charged his Buster to its max, then rushed ahead and delivered the blow, following it up with a second salvo of blasts. The robot didn't stand a chance.

But unluckily for X, he was too close, and the concussion blew him backwards against the step he had skipped over. Even with his new helmet, the blow was a severe and powerful one, and X couldn't stop the lights from flashing across his rolling eyes. With a groan, his eyes fluttered back open, and the room slowly came into view. Because he was lying on the floor, the ceiling is what he first saw.

And in a corner of the ceiling lay a ledge. X shook his head and got up, looking at the high level obstacle. He scratched his head for a moment, and then winced as his hand dropped to his side.

"Whatever Spark's got up there, he thought only he could reach it." But X thought he might be able to make it up there with a few well timed jumps.

With a hop, skip and a jump, X was placed at the right position on the wall. He braced himself and dashed off the peak, then lifted his hand and scraped it along the bottom of the ledge. It gave him the element of control he needed to turn his body around, and with dexterity a trapeeze artist would envy, X swiveled his body around. With his hand still gripping the bottom of the ledge, his upwards momentum continued to carry itself, and his body lifted a few precious inches. He kicked his foot out, and scraped its rough bottom against the ledge. He pushed off of it, but because his now straining hand was still gripping the ledge, the force did not push him away from the ledge-it pushed him UP from it. X screamed and let go of his squealing hand, then collapsed onto the tiny ledge, letting his repair systems ease the pain from his sore limbs.

When he finally came back to his senses, he smiled widely.

"Spark, you old fool. You think simple-and sometimes that'll cost you." X grabbed the hidden Heart Tank, and nodded in agreement with his new improved internal operations energy gauge.

"Oh, yeah." X said. "Spark, you be going DOWN!"

The underground passage which X took was a long and winding one; not nearly as perilous as the encounter with the Thunder Slimer, but still dangerous enough. With Flammingles bouncing around like no one's business, and an occasional Turn Cannon placed just right to be a nuisance, X took his share of bumps and bruises. Even a few more Hortoise Tortoises made a pass at X, but each time his own power was a bit more devastating, especially when he got his recharge to the Fire Wave and got his most trusted secondary weapon working for him. At last, he climbed up the last wall and destroyed the last cannon, then he saw clear sailing.

Then he saw nothing at all. The pitch black had enveloped everything once more, a darkness which left X cautiously proceeding, sticking his foot out very carefully to avoid the pits Spark had placed. Then he heard something in the dark; a shimmering ziing. By instinct, X leapt into the air, and with perfect timing as another 'Spark Skimmer' zipped underneath him. X looked behind the annoying robot and saw its ion trail was glowing brightly, the tiny specks of charged matter leaving an illuminescence where it had been. X smiled and looked around, taking in the details of the room with his optical sensors once more. When it faded, he brought up his optics menu and spoke to himself.

"Controls…overlay room images on optic memory." His helmet bleeped in acknowledgement, and then X saw the dim outlines of his photographic memory spring to life on his eyes. X smiled as he continued on. Each time a Spark Skimmer would fly by, it would allow him to look around again and store the image. With the image, he could effectively know exactly where he was going.

With that very simple task, X found it easy to scale the dips and peaks of the chamber of terrors Spark had left him, and then he stood on solid ground, Spark's door in front of him. Underneath his feet lay the decimated remains of one lone sentry Ball De Voux, and X opened the door.

Spark would have company very soon.

"G'Evening, Sparky." X's voice was soft, but very clear on its intention. The massive primate reploid turned about from his controls at the nuclear reactor and looked over in annoyance.

"So you made it. Next time I'll have better sentries up and running." X glanced at Spark, noting the Irregular Hunter saw him as more of a nuisance than a threat. It worried X, and he furrowed his brow.

"Aren't you going to destroy me?" Spark nodded, but his eyes did not wander from the controls.

"Just give me time, my little jumping flea. I have to set up this algorithm, then we can play Orkin Man." Spark punched in the last few commands, then cleared his throat and turned away from the panel. Spark looked at X angrily.

"X, I am very upset with the fact you've destroyed three of my friends, and even more upset that when you took down Storm, you ruined my operation. Now you have me scrambling about trying to fix your mess." X scoffed.

"Sorry about that. Next time I'll remember to ask if I can blow a maverick's head off." Spark fumed.

"You mock me?!" X nodded.

"If you aren't willing to consider me a real threat, then I won't give you the benefit of my sincerity." Spark nodded.

"You wanna be Mr. Nitpicker? Fine. How about we meet HALFWAY?!" Spark crouched down and punched his fist to the ground, releasing a powerful electrical discharge. It split in two, then traveled along the floor at incredible speed. X jumped the blast, then pointed his Buster forward for a shot.

He didn't even have the chance to pull the trigger. While he'd been dodging the first attack, Spark had been charging him like a bull with his Dash Punch. The massive hand smashed into X's stomach, knocking the wind-and a good chunk of his energy-out of him. But that was only the first part of it, for Spark kept on plowing until he had rammed X and his fist into the side of the wall. X cried out in pain, or tried to. But his blood kept him from speaking as it clogged his throat. X swallowed, trying to regain the lost energy in his blood by restoring it in the fusion process. But that did little good. Spark had walloped him with an incredible blow. 

And as X crumpled to the floor, Spark smiled.

"Now you see why you'll never be a challenge to Sigma. If you can't get past me, how can you possibly expect to stop us?" X listened intently, holding back the trigger on his Buster, slowly building a charge, unnoticeable to Spark at first. But then he frowned as he heard the familiar whine.

"You still have a little power left, eh?" Spark sighed and raised his foot. "I have to remember to double check my attacks from now on." He brought his massive plodding boot to bear, and then swung it down in a vicious arc, with enough power to blow X's fusion generator from his body. But X had one foot against the wall, and he quickly activated the dash boots. With a blast of thermal jets, he was thrown aside and away from Spark, and just in the nick of time. Spark's massive foot smashed into the concrete where X once stood, and when he raised it a web of spiraling cracks came from the epicenter. Spark gaped in amazement, then turned with a fresh look of anger in his eyes.

"So that's how you did 'em in. You had dash boots as well." X glared at Spark, but said nothing. Of course, with his throat still full of blood, he couldn't have said anything anyways, but that was beside the point to X. No words would push Spark aside, no verbal banter would do any good.

For Spark was a very simple maverick, with a very simple goal at the moment.

Destroy X.

Spark made tracks toward X with a massive room wide jump, which would have flattened him, had he not been prepared for it and dashed out of the way. Spark turned, his nostrils bolting steam. With yet another Dash Punch, Spark turned himself into a flying missile. But this time, X was ready for it and let his shot fly. It was as powerful as any shot X could fire, the massive twin spiraling blast of purple orbs which was now X's most powerful attack. And Spark never saw it coming.

The plasma was, of course, stronger than any physical attack Spark could muster, and as it smashed into Spark, not only did it give him damage-it sent him clear across the room with the shock of the blow. As Spark's back slammed into the opposite wall, X began to charge his next attack, no look of happiness on his face. This was serious, and any wrong move on his part would mean death. If Spark got another Dash Punch through, X would barely survive it, even with his elongated Internal Operations Energy meter. 

He would not survive two.

Spark roared and leapt to his feet, one of his massive hands clutching the smoking wound which X had given him. His eyes dimmed to a blood red, and suddenly X saw that whatever had been left of Spark after he turned maverick…was gone. This Spark would annihilate him. It was a giant beast versus a small intelligent being who had not gotten the first blow in.

Spark leapt up and grabbed hold of the pipes in the ceiling, the pipes which carried coolant to and from the reactor so very close by, but contained within a transparent shield. X looked on in wonder as Spark's full animal personality sprung to life, swinging from pipe to pipe like the original. X leapt up the side of the wall behind him and steadied his Buster on the swinging figure.

The blue Supershot hit true, scoring another hit for X. But the rampaging Spark kept on coming, until at last X cried out and dropped from his position. Spark let go of his grip and began to fall, and would surely have hit X like a trash compactor, had the blue reploid not made tracks away from the scene with a very long and powerful thrust of his dash boots. X turned around from his speedy position and saw Spark charging at him with yet another Dash Punch. But X's shot was not charged enough to give significant damage, and there wasn't enough time to turn around and try to jump over the lumbering figure. X's only option was to continue to run. 

And run he would. Until at last, Spark's nostrils were breathing steam down X's neck and X knew if he ran any longer, he would be smashed into Spark once more. So X jumped, jumped as high as he could until there was no more altitude to be gained, and hung on the wall, too high for Spark's charge to hit him.

But Spark did not stop. He kept on plowing forth, until his fist smashed into the wall. The entire side of the room shook with the blow, and X's perch destabilized, until it cracked and he fell from his position. X cried out, for Spark's left hand jutted out and grabbed his arm-like a lightpole grabbing a toothpick-and smashed him viciously into the floor. X cried out in pain, and a loud blaring noise in his head came to life. X knew what it meant;

He was just a breath away from internal atomic meltdown. X activated one of his two Sub-Tanks, until his operations energy once again lay at maximum. Spark flung him aside, as if trying to smash him into the wall so he would be stuck there, and at Spark's mercy like a punching bag.

But X was ready, and with a well timed thrust from his dash boots slowed his momentum until he dropped down lightly to the floor. 

The two stared at each other for what seemed an eternity, at least compared to what they had been throwing at each other before and the speed it had happened. Neither one moved, both were ready with an attack should the other one even so much as twitch. This break in the action gave X time to think, think about the strategy of how he should fight Spark.

For a big guy, Spark moved fast, X reasoned. Too fast for even his new dash boots to pose a threat. Therefore, X had to make Spark slow down…

"No way…" X exhaled silently. Could it? He could only try. Activating his weapons array, X selected the Ice Shotgun and fired a blast. With dismay, X saw Spark leap up and take hold of his monkey bars in the ceiling, saw his shot continue on towards emptiness, a glittering trail of ice behind it. But when the tightly packed iceball hit the wall, it did not disintegrate…

It separated. One piece came back at X's direction, another smashed into the floor harmlessly-and one tiny piece flew upwards at a diagonal angle, catching Spark right smack into the back.

The tiny nanoprobes inside the ice pellet came to life, recognizing it had hit its target with the impact. They quickly maneuvered out, making more and more ice, until within a fraction of a second, Spark's entire body was covered in ice and he fell to the floor, his grip lost on his high perch. 

The icy statue of Spark clanged to the floor, and for a very brief moment, X saw that Chill would have been proud of him. But then Spark broke free from the shot, and X sprang backwards in surprise. 

"Looks like the effect doesn't last long." But X saw that it had done more damage than any plasma shot he could muster. The ice had crept inside Spark's systems, freezing joints, his fluids, and busting apart his internal systems like water would break down stone. "So all I have to do is keep it up." But Spark was moving very fast, in another powerful leap across the room to flatten X. But X dashed aside and turned about. When Spark landed, X's Ice Shotgun fired yet another blast and Spark was encased once more.

The cycle continued, shot after shot was pumped into Spark, and each time Spark found it harder and harder to break free from his tomb. X lost his own reason. He only fired and fired and fired…no doubts, just the kill.

Until at last, Spark was encased in one final shot, and he did not move. But as his systems went critical, the synthesized ice melted away and Spark turned to look at X, a pained look on his face. He opened his mouth and said one thing;

"X…why?" And with that, Spark Mandrill ceased to be. His internal fusion generator exploded outwards, and his internal systems were vaporized instantly. Pieces of him flew in every direction, but it was his once unscarred fist that X ran to. Gingerly, he picked it up and touched it with his palm. His armor turned shades of orange yellow, and the power of the Electric Spark became his.

But as he walked away from the remains to reset the power plant to give energy to the city, a tear rolled from his eye. Spark's last question had struck a tone in him.

"Why am I doing this?" X shook his head. He would have to find the answers somewhere else, somewhere where he could examine his thoughts quietly.

Somewhere where he could be alone.

"Hey, has X showed up yet?" Zero plodded into Hazil's medical bay with a concerned look on his face. The box on wheels lifted his head from his datapad and shook his head.

"Sorry, Zero." Zero turned around, to prevent Hazil from seeing the pained look in his face, the look of worry for his strongest recruit. Hazil chuckled.

"I said I haven't SEEN HIM. He called in a while ago, though." Zero swiveled around, elated.

"And…"

"And he defeated Spark. Said it wasn't easy, though." Zero nodded.

"I know what he means. Spark was one bad mother during his Hunter days. No telling how powerful he'd become when X met him. So, why hasn't he come in?" Hazil creaked his head back, swiveling it around in a full circle.

"He said he had some thinking to do, that he had to be alone." Zero sighed.

"Yeah, I'll give the guy that. Cain was right, you know." Hazil raised an eyebrow.

"Really? About what?" Zero sat down on one of the medical cots.

"That boy's going through hell." Hazil's mouth twitched.

"Yeah, I'll agree with that. Buy you a drink? I could really use one myself." Zero nodded, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah. There's no threat as yet, and I'm off duty. Let's go get sloshed." Hazil turned his datapad off and turned to the door, opening it.

"Who knows, Commander? Maybe we'll forget about some of this while we're at it."

Drinking was a ritual in the Hunters, X knew. It started with Sigma's Unit, and had kept on going. They drank for several reasons. To drown out the mess they worked in, to live for a few moments of carefree existence, and several other therapeutic purposes.

But X did not partake of that habit. He preferred 'sody pansy water' as Cancer used to put it. And as his mind ran over and over the troubles he considered, X began to relax on the hill high above Tokyo.

Until he heard the whine of robotic motors a ways off. X got to his feet, instantly on alert once more. He turned about, and peered through the bushes from where the noise emanated. He saw several robots, Batton Bones from their ugly looks flying towards someplace.

"Hello…" X followed them cautiously, trying not to make any noise. As he walked along, he saw a gaping entrance come into view in the dim light of the moon. The Battons flew in, and X pondered it for a moment.

"Hmmm…looks like a mining operation. And where there's mining…" X sighed.

"There's Armored Armadillo. Looks like break's over, X." X shut his eyes and activated his warping mechanism. There might be a trap at the entrance.

And if he was gonna go stop this, he had to do it in style.


	11. Down The Tunnels(AKA A Mine is a Terribl...

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

****

CHAPTER TEN: TUNNELS OF TERROR

Or

"A Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste"

X warped into the mining complex, totally focused on the mission. His Buster stood at the ready, and he swung it around the room looking for targets. Then he lowered it almost sadly.

"Dang. No one's home." But deep within his superprocessor, X knew that statement was a bit false.

Company was around. They just weren't here. "Why go looking for trouble when it finds you?" X muttered as he held his fire. He wanted his Buster at max for this.

Then it hit him; he hadn't reported in recently. He flipped his comm up to chat, but a loud buzzing filled the air and he quickly snapped it off.

"Damn! Looks like they're jamming it." X sighed. Well, he'd report in later when he'd shut off the jamming source. And boy, what a report he'd have.

"Sigma, I got a few questions." Armadillo whined into the mike. All channels beside the one which served as his direct link to Sigma were being jammed by high energy transmissions within his operational radius. Sigma winced onscreen, for even if Armored was one of the most versatile and powerful mavericks on his squad, he whined too much.

"Such as…"

"Are the others set up yet?" Sigma nodded, rubbing his hand with his head.

"Yes, A.A. They're all set. But I need you to keep your operation running. After X ruined Flame's operation and totaled the power redirection plan of Spark's, you're the only place still supplying us resources at the moment. Trust me when I say the others have similar operations building, but right now you're the only one going full tilt." Armored smiled.

"Boy, I guess that makes me special. How goes the groundwork with your base, boss?" Sigma smiled.

"Vile is truly a miracle worker at architecture, and he's come up with quite a good variety of mazes and traps for our base. He comes up with something new every few minutes, it seems." Armored nodded.

"Just make sure he doesn't waste my supplies." Sigma frowned.

"Yes. Our resources are too scarce to be wasteful. Should I send more troops to fortify your operation?" Armored gave a toothy grin.

"Naw, I got it. After all, this place is quiet. As far as anyone knows, this old mining area was abandoned YEARS ago, which means nobody pokes around much." Sigma nodded.

"A brilliant idea on your part. The meltdown accident 40 years ago does kind of keep the humans away from the old atomic processing area. And reploids-they're too busy with anything else." Armored laughed raucously.

"And the best part is…there's nothing for satellites or scanners to pick up. We're a quiet operation, and there's no way in hell anyone'll ever find us!" Sigma smiled and reached to turn off his comm.

"That's the first bit of good news I've heard in quite some time, A.A. Keep it up." Armored gave a mighty salute, his thick arm slapping against his head. Sigma's image flashed off, and Armored turned about whistling an old tune called 'My Way.'

"So, Mr. Miner, the question is…FreeCell or Minesweeper?" As far as Armored was concerned, the operation was running so smoothly, the robots were doing fine on their own.

He could just take it easy and relax with his computer games and comic books.

After all, the Hunters weren't around for miles.

Except for one, which at the moment was screaming his head head off in fear as he clung tightly to a mining cart, rolling down the steep incline with incredible speed.

"I HATE ROLLER COASTERS!" X yelped as a Batton Bone whizzed overhead. A more precise term would be 'as X whizzed underneath', but at the moment a frazzled X was too worried about where the ride would end, and cursing under his breath that he hated these blasted things. Finally, fed up with it, he went to his feet and jumped. The cart continued on ahead, and X right beneath it. He soon realized his own momentum was equal to the cart's, and unless he made moves to halt his progress, he would merely be rejoining it once more. So, with intelligence bred in a chess grandmaster, or instincts bred in a natural killer, X activated his dash boots. With them jutting out in front of him like a long jumper's, his momentum was slowed just enough that the cart kept going, and X slowed down.

As X crashed to the floor arms akimbo, the cart kept going. And inside his mind, X knew any chance of him arriving unannounced at Armored's lair was just shot. Whatever destruction that cart caused, it wouldn't go unnoticed.

"Come on…come on…YES!!! BLACK THREE!!!" Armored pumped his fist up and down as he grinned widely at his computer screen. Sliding his hand across the mouse with expert dexterity, he moved the necessary card into the holding spot, and all the others fell into place giving him the win in FreeCell. A giant king appeared on the green background, and Armored set up the next game.

For a moment, the blinking icon on his taskbar didn't catch his eye, until he finally saw it. He glanced at it annoyed for a moment, then sighed and scrolled his cursor down.

"Probably just another dumb mine cart gone haywire." When he popped it up, he nodded angrily. "Yeah, that blasted mine cart in the beginning of the complex broke free. Looks like it fell down the waste shaft." Armored opened the robotic directional command program and gave directions to the Batton Bones in the area to go retrieve the mine cart and set it back up for metallic delivery. Then he popped his game back up. As he continued to play the game and continue his winning streak, he grumbled something to the PC's internal diary.

"Memo to self; BOLT THOSE BLASTED MINE CARTS DOWN."

If Armored knew about X's presence, he sure didn't show it.

And if X knew Armored didn't know, the same thing could be said for him. A while ago, he had taken out a few Batton Bones in the area…and one enemy which left him stunned, as it was the original Batonton, the same Bubble Bat which had pestered his predecessor Mega since his second escapade. How an antique machine like that had survived, X didn't know. But it was threatening him, and X had little choice but to take it out like the others. He paused at the edge of the pit which gaped before him, then held his breath and leapt across, taking out the stalky bird, which had X left it alone would have thrown metallic wheel after wheel at him. X smiled. "I looove my Fire Wave!" But that was soon flushed from his mind as he heard the flutter of yet even more Batton Bones fluttering down from their perches to strike at him. X frowned for a moment, then held back his fire. If he let them get close enough, he could take them down with one easy shot, like shooting two birds with one stone. And then they vanished in plasma fire.

He took out the last row which he saw, and then he hopped down the shaft close by. He could see the bottom, and he knew it led to gool ol' Mole Boy.

Finally, 'Mole Boy' maximized his robotic sensor readings in disgust. "Remind me to get my head examined for using bloody robots…" he cut his sentence short as he saw the readings. His ten operational Batton Bones-and his prized collectible Bubble Bat-were all listed as destroyed.

"What the…" Armored activated the cameras he had placed around his mining complex and switched the camera to the first shaft. Sure enough, there was the problem.

Little 'ol Mega Man X was paying him a visit. And along the way, utterly stopping his operation. Armored roared in anger and picked up his mike, muttering to himself rapidly.

"What the blue blazes is X doin' here? There was nothing-NOTHING for him to track us with!" Whatever the cause for X's presence, Armored had to make sure it was a short one.

Or else Sigma would have his pointy head.

"GET THE HELL OUTTA MY SHAFTS!!!" A foreign voice ricocheted inside the tunnel, and X nearly lost hold of his grip as he reacted to it. Someone had just scared the living crud out of him, and within microseconds he knew who.

"Glad to see you finally know company's here, Mole-man."

"I'm a blasted Armadillo, X."

"Yeah, I knew that. Say, you wouldn't happen to be supplying raw materials to the maverick cause here, would you?" X said as he glanced down at a packed crate below him. Armored chuckled.

"Of course not! All my supplies are shipped ASAP to the UNICEF."

"UNICEF went bankrupt twenty years ago, Arm." Armored growled over the connection.

"Whatever you thought you could accomplish here is something you will never live to achieve. My forces will grind you to dust, like all the other junk I process."

"Yeah, tell me something new, Dig-Bot. The other four said that as well, but they ain't here talking now, are they?" 

"They were all weaklings. I am not so easily defeated, my young Hunter."

"Oh really? Most of the time I saw you, you were either running around with your head cut off, hiding from the action or griping about overtime pay." Armored began to form a comeback, but he held his voice for a moment. Then calmly, he gave X one last shoveoff.

"You can speak until your face turns blue, X. The simple truth is-you will die. I'm sorry I can't talk to you anymore, but I have to fix up the boo-boos you gave my 'bots." The connection clinked off, and X was left at the bottom of the shaft, scratching his head and wondering what the whining wombat meant by that.

Until he heard a grinding noise and saw the wall shake behind him. With pure instincts, X leapt up into the air and clambered up the shaft for dear life. Below him, a gigantic Mole Borer smashed through the brittle wall and chugged along down the shaft, chewing up rocks everywhere. X wiped the bead of sweat from his brow, then dropped back down. Apparently, that was the only piece of machinery Armored could muster-for the moment. 

But X knew deep inside his skull that wouldn't be the only Mole Borer to make its presence known. And when he saw one next time-his Fire Wave would wipe it out forever.

But for the moment, he looked back to whence it came, and saw the terrible beast of burden had been guarding Armored's sacred treasure-A Sub-Tank. When X claimed it for himself and plugged it in his systems, he saw that he had obtained three. And a fourth, he knew was lying in the power plant. Somehow, he would find a way to claim that as well.

The Mole Borer had left a clean path for X to follow. All the enemies were destroyed by its massive munchers, and every once in a while X saw a neatly packaged pile of raw metal. He had to smile, for not only was the Mole Borer doing his job-it still had time to do its own.

"I'll have to remind Arm to give that boy a raise…nah, too late." X sighed as he saw the Mole Borer in utter disrepair, lying in scraps in a spike pit. No doubt one of the traps Armored had activated for him. X scratched his head, for unlike the Power Plant, or even the Factory, Arm's mine presented little challenge or danger. As long as he kept on his toes, he would live. Perhaps it was because X had better stuff now than he did then.

"Or maybe it's because Arm's the most clumsy maverick of the lot!" X chuckled. For once, he was actually having fun with his job. For when he fought Spark, he knew he could die. When he fought Chill, he was a rookie. When he fought Storm, he was on dangerous territory. And worst-when he had to end Flame's operation, he had to kill a friend.

"No. That wasn't Flame." X reminded himself coldly. The Flame he knew as his friend died when Sigma went maverick and took his Hunters with him. As long as he kept that mindset, X wouldn't fall victim to his weaknesses.

And if he kept himself strong, he WOULD succeed.

Of course, it didn't help matters that every few feet another Batton Bone popped down to get in his face. It was times like this X really appreciated his Buster's fourth level of power, and its ability to destroy one, then two Battons, then keep going and plow through a few more. And each time the incredibly stupid choice of a fighter leaving behind an insanely crazy amount of energy for X to store in his Sub-Tanks, that was something that was laughable. And in very short order, he had a second filled, the one which he had drained to take down Spark.

Then, he stopped cold as he looked in fear at the obstacle which stood in his way. Another mine cart, set up perfectly for him to ride on it. X held his breath, and then let it go.

"What the hell. Looks like I'll have to overcome my fear sometime. Might as well do it now." X hopped on the cart, and his momentum broke it free. As he screamed, he rolled forward, forward until he dropped down yet another mine shaft, bouncing back and forth on the walls like a pinball. And X felt very sickened by the movements, and he held on for dear life, his fingers drilling marks into the framework of the level cart. Then, he bounced off the wall one last time and was sent spiraling down the horizontal tunnel. When he opened his eyes, he noticed that the sharp edges of the cart were slicing their way through the enemies in front of him, and conveniently leaving behind energy pellet droppings on the front. X eagerly snatched them up, his Sub-Tanks getting stronger all the time in their storage. X felt strong, a sense of pride and accomplishment he had not felt before. He had overcome his fear, and it had paid off. 

He stood tall on the cart, like surfing it would seem to an observer.

This truly was a fun ride.

"Where's X?" Zero yelled as he pounded his console. Back at Maverick HHQ, things weren't getting any less frustrating, and one of those things was the fact X should have been back four hours ago to report for duty. After all, those wee hours of the morning had long since passed into a bright sunny day. 

Down the hall, a still woozy Hazil bumped into one of the medical beds at the outburst. Groaning and rubbing his sore head, he tried to block out the bugs of his hangover from messing him up any more.

"It's too early for you to be going off and yelling, Commander." Hazil grumbled. "Keep this up, and the next checkup I give is gonna include a complete body cavity search."

Cain sat in his own office, in its semi-repaired condition and looked up from his datapad concerning the continuing rebuilding of the base. With a sigh, he shrugged his head and continued with his work.

So, what effectively happened was Zero got no response. The 17th Unit was practicing in the gym, too far for his voice to carry. The red Crimson Hunter growled a few unintelligible comments about X's ancestors, then finally shut up.

Zero was truly incensed at X's lack of protocol. Perhaps he expected more from X…that might be because X was his best Hunter. Or maybe he just wanted to lash out at something.

In any case, if X didn't have a good reason for skipping out, Zero would ream him a new one.

"So why am I waiting here?" Zero growled. "I'm gonna go find that Blue Bomber, and drag him in by his ears PERSONALLY!" Zero stomped out of the command nest and ran towards the vehicle docking bays, to where he kept his prized motorbike. He would go out and find X, for he knew that X was somewhere in Tokyo.

But as Zero's hoverbike screamed away from the base, floating on a thin cushion of air, another part of the city came to life.

New Tokyo's prized landmark was the incredibly tall Karashita Tower, built by the famous Japanese Engineer Tosho Kim. You took the lift to the top, and from there you could look out the windows and see any part of the city in incredible view. Below the cloudline by only a few hundred feet, when it was built there were many skeptics who doubted if it would actually stand.

Tosho Kim proved them all wrong. In time, he then added a second tower built next to it on the same pedestal, and radically changed the design. It was so incredible, and had it taken a military purpose, it would have become a force to fear.

And it seemed, that for once those dark predictions and 'What-ifs' had finally caught up to life. For as Zero fumed, the last of the tower workers was obliterated by maverick forces. It had been taken over, with one singular purpose in mind for it.

A reason which Boomer Kuwanger's instructions listed all too clearly. As the lanky reploid stepped over the still smoking, smelly body and dashed up the side with speed even the famed roadrunner of cartoon lore would have envied, his face was totally darkened by his mission.

Step one was completed; Possession. Step 2 would be setting up defensive measures in case of counterattack. 

"And step three…" Boomer's voice trailed off. Step three was the part of the plan which Spark Mandrill himself had come up with. The mechanical maverick had built the device himself, and now Boomer was putting it to use. "Project Mandrill." Boomer humphed quietly. He had named the project after his friend, when he heard from Sigma that Spark had been taken out.

Taken out by X.

"X!!!" Boomer screamed in rage as he slammed up the final ladder. Boomer was angered beyond expression, for his misguided friend X had been the sole force, stopping their success time and time again. 

If step three worked, X wouldn't be around to stop them again. 

"Sigma, blast it! COME IN!!!" Arm's voice was frantic and high pitched as he assaulted his comm with the verbal squeal. Static, then the working channel fuzzed into existence. Sigma's stony features sprung to life on the tiny screen, with a less than pleased frown covering his usually smooth and even mouth.

"What now, Arm?" The mighty miner almost began to chitter in high pitched squeals, to which only his worker robots responded. But taking a breath, Armored slowed down and spoke loudly but deliberately.

"X is here, and he's ripping the place apart."

"Jesus…" Sigma whistled. A frown then covered his previous annoyance. "I thought you had this place tied down tighter than the CIA's Worldnet."

"So did I, but somehow he figured out what was going on!"

"Any other Hunters show up yet?"

"That's the ONLY bit of good news. He's here, he's alone, and since I have the radios scrambled, he can't call for help." Sigma nodded.

"I'll send you some help, as much as I can give you without retracting from the forces we have. A squadron of metal wings."

"ONE SQUADRON?! SIGMA, I AM IN DEEP DOG EXCREMENT HERE! I NEED MORE!" Armored yelled, not believing that Sigma could be so glib about this whole situation. But Sigma's eyes flared into life, and he became just as loud with his response.

"YOU LISTEN, SOLDIER!" Sigma then cowered, back down, covering his face with a massive paw. With a sigh, he re-emerged. His face still held that anger, but he was quieter now than before.

"I still have three other mavericks alive, each with their own very important mission in hand to complete. At this point in time, my faith in you is very low. If you cannot stop one Hunter…JUST ONE…then you are worthless to me. You will take the help I give you, and you WILL destroy X. Is that clear?"

"Sigma, I…"

"IS THAT CLEAR?!" Arm sighed.

"Yes, sir." Sigma did not give him a response, he raised his hand to the controls Armored could not see and switched off the transceiver. Arm winced at the finality of which Sigma had spoken to him, fully realizing how very serious Sigma was with him.

"Dead serious." Armored shook his pointed head. If he couldn't pull this off, and end X's rampage…well, there were two possibilities to that end.

One, he could survive, and be dragged back to Sigma, where he would be destroyed.

Or, he could be destroyed by X instead. Both were bad choices, Arm knew. Destruction was a very simple and utterly terrifying concept, no matter who dished it out.

"Looks like X is gonna be feeling the cold hand of death on his shoulder very soon." Arm muttered as he walked over to his storage cabinet. He opened the lid, and slipped on the rest of his reploid armor.

It was like saying hello to an old friend.

Meanwhile, X was dropping down the final shaft; more truly sliding down it, trying to avoid the Batton Bones which fluttered down after him like pestersome fall leaves. X looked down, and then suddenly he was seeing the bottom of the shaft rising up towards him at incredible speeds.

"Oh, NOOO!!!!!" X cried out. He knew what had happened. The shaft had ended. But then he saw another wall come into view. As he moved next to it, he grabbed hold and his descent slowed. He looked up, and saw the Batton Bones had long since given up the chase, their primitive motion detectors losing track of him. Looking down, he saw a very familiar target.

"A Mole Borer. Hmm.. maybe Arm isn't gonna miss it." X gave a devilish grin and switched to his red and orange and white coloring as he activated the Fire Wave. He dropped down the rest of the way, then turned about and focused his Buster on the immobile target. He knew he'd only get a fraction of a second to get this right, before the Mole Borer sprung to life and began to chomp along, swallowing rubble and turning it into metals which would be shipped to Sigma for the maverick cause.

The tiny spurt of flame was small at first, the spark not quite igniting the fuel which his internal adaptive weapons systems were producing. But it swelled up soon enough, moving to the next stage of development; a massive demon's head of a flame pillar which bore the brunt of the Fire Wave's power. The flame licked at the protective coating of the Mole Borer, eating away layer after layer. The Borer sprung to life, activated by X's movements, chugging along. X gave a quick smile and whistled under his breath,

"Not today, you drill for brains." X kept an easy pace on the Borer, his flames continuing to eat at the armor. Finally, armor gave way and X's Fire Wave was melting away at the delicate insides of the Borer.

Within fractions of a second, the Borer succumbed to the very symbol of destruction, the internal atomic reactor going critical and exploding outwards. Nothing was left of the Mole Borer when its chain reaction was done, for the vaporization had claimed it fully. X stopped, and shut off the Fire Wave, switching back to his Buster. As X moved along the dim tunnel to which the Borer never proceeded to, he noticed that there was a curious overhand in the rock.

"No way that Arm'd be THIS obvious." X muttered as he hopped up the side. But, fate proved him wrong as he claimed Arm's Heart Tank as his own. X suddenly realized why he never failed to lose a game of chess against Arm.

"The guy's mind was always a little too simple for complex tasks." As X shuffled down the side, he did mutter a side note.

"But if you spend all day digging in dirt, I guess you don't have to be smarter than it."

X found little opposition in the rest of his way; until he got to yet another mine cart. But his Buster proved more than a match for the one hit wonder robots, and soon X was riding high on the cart, down the embankment and then across a deadly layer of spikes. A previous blast of plasma had obliterated the few Batton Bones which could have knocked him into the pit, and soon he saw it was open road to his next goal; the end of the shaft, and then Arm's lair.

But as he smashed through the occasional Dig Labour, or 'Pickaxe Bot,' X noticed a droning storm of flying fury ahead.

"What the…Well, I'll be." X grumbled. "Metal Wings. Sigma must have sent some help after all." He was slightly faster than their speed at the moment, and X began to shoot off his attacks one by one to send them spiraling into the ground. The Fire Wave he knew would only come back in his face. Only his Buster had the necessary speed to acquire his opposition. But he was so focused on the squadron of Metal Wings, he did not notice the end of the tunnel up ahead.

And so, he was caught totally off guard when the first blinding rays of morning light smashed into his face and stopped his target practice. Screaming, blind and unaware of his perception, X shut his eyes, then slowly opened them.

He couldn't have chosen a worse spot to look at. He was soaring across open canyon, the mine cart losing speed dramatically, himself falling down the massive gorge that X knew all too well. In the distance, X could see the mountains, and lush green artificial tropical resort which was another prize of New Tokyo's prestige. But he kept his focus on where it needed to be; namely where he was headed. He looked down, and saw that within the far flung flurry of Metal Wings threatening to knock him off his perch and to his death, lay an opening in a rocky outcropping ahead. "That's gotta be Arm's lair." X noted. He measured the distance, and then took his fateful dash jump.

While the Metal Wings soared ahead, X collided with the precipice and grabbed the energy capsule on the ledge above Arm's door.

X was going in full strength for this encounter.

But far away from X, in the city of New Tokyo itself lay another threat. Boomer Kuwanger was making the final preparations for his operation, noting every minute detail with his datapad. And as he saw every check become green, he sighed.

"Bring the weapon online. Begin Step three of the plan." His chittering voice carried over to the maverick tech at the console. With a grim nod, the worker acknowledge the command and pushed the fateful EXECUTE button.

On top of the second tower, where Boomer had built his command post, a massive object which looked like a mutated pen came to life. The supercooling coils came online, the neon gas inside the glass coils beginning to glow faintly as they dispersed the amounts of heat the cannon was building up. This was Spark's own creation come to devastating life; the Plasmoid Cannon.

Not merely an accumulative generator, like X's X-Buster, it did not build the heat of the plasma; just its devastating electrostatic charge. The heat was dispersed with the neon coils, and the energy from the electrical part of the plasma roiled within itself, building up to a devastating amount of power. 

The tech turned to Boomer, a plain look on his face.

"Sir, specify the target." Boomer snapped back to his senses.

"Target designation is Alpha…The Plasmoid Cannon's first target is Maverick HHQ." The tech nodded, then swung the targeting array around until it pointed at the still recuperating building. A shrill whine as the last part of the charge built up, and then the distinct sound of an energy discharge.

Below the tower, Zero zoomed along unawares of the situation at the tower. But when the shot was fired, he was fully aware of it. And as his optic sensors tracked the shot, his face turned from surprise; to dread.

"Oh, God no.." Zero mumbled. He saw the shot hit his base, and then he saw what happened afterwards.

The electrostatic charge struck the base in the node of the training facility, where the last remnants of the Maverick Hunters were hard at work with their training. The deadly power arced around, frying every bit of circuitry it could get its hands on, coarsing through the entire base with its power, and blowing every piece of machinery plugged in to a smoking, fiery blaze. The 17th Unit did not survive the attack, and they were the first to go.

Even as the nanosecond quick shock protectors came online, they only managed to unplug one computer monitor before it too succumbed to the intense power of the assault. The Maverick HHQ was now nothing more than a building.

For now every Hunter had been destroyed.

Every Hunter but Zero and X.

"YOU BASTARD!!!" Armored yelled out as his head mounted plasma blaster fired off a salvo of shots, which avoided by leaping up the side of the wall and staying out of their path. But Armored wouldn't let X rest for a minute. He curled up into his ball of the Rolling Shield, and began to bound about the room crazily, so he could hit X. X saw him coming, and dropped down to avoid the crushing blow Arm's attack would have delivered. But the angered reploid would not cease, and he still let X have a piece of his mind.

"I HAVE THE PERFECT OPERATION GOING, AND YOU COME AND RUIN IT!" X dashed aside from the rolling ball of metal and held back his fire. Hoping he was doing this for the better, X made a risky comment.

"Oh, great. You're STILL whining?" The ball slowed, then uncurled. X let loose of the trigger as he saw his chance, and Arm turned about just in time to note it-

and swing his arms down, palms out. The plasma smashed into the pads, but strangely enough, Armored didn't seem worried in the least. He gave a toothy grin to X, and then began to flash purple.

"Your weapons are useless against me, X. Especially plasma." Armored flung his arms out, and the absorbed energy was sent out in eight directions. A stunned X was hit by the blow, and he found it to be very devastating. Arm didn't let up, beginning to fire his cannon off again. X yelped, and fired the smallest shot he could muster. For once, Arm was unable to block or avoid, and it hit him dead on. He stumbled back a few feet, then laughed out loud.

"Did you really think you would be able to stop me with your Buster? Here, take a look at this-" Arm flicked his arm down to the scorch mark. "THAT is all the effectiveness your attack held against me. What you don't understand is that I was DESIGNED to work in a hazardous environment. Nothing you throw at me will harm me, for I was built to withstand FAR GREATER." X frowned.

"I think I know one thing that can stop you." Arm chuckled, throwing his arms out.

"Fine. By all means, if you wish to hold onto even a shred of your hope, please feel free to take a potshot." X nodded at the unwise words of Armored, and then morphed into his purple coloring. He raised his Buster and pulled the trigger once. The plasma function of his Buster combined with the adaptive function of the wind-creating turbofan, and the tightly coiled spring of the Storm Tornado, laced with plasma reached forth and smashed into Arm. It blew him back, began to throw him back, but Arm merely curled up into his ball and began to bounce around the room once more. And his chuckling voice carried through the shield as he spoke.

"I TOLD you it wouldn't work! Now, you will die, my friend. You will pay for your meddlesome ways, and Sigma's faith in me will be restored." X rolled out of the way, his mind racing.

"Fire Wave-no, can't get close enough to try it. Tried the Storm Tornado. Maybe Ice Shotgun." X shrugged. One way or another, he had to end this. 

And then he was promptly bashed into and thrown to the ground, a torn mess. X drained a Sub-Tank, and hoped that was the last attack Arm could land on him.

Ice Shotgun also proved as ineffective as the Tornado, and Arm joked about how refreshing it was to get chilled off. And finally, there was only one attack left that X had to throw at Arm.

"Arm! Stop your bouncing around and get down here. If you want to fight, let it be a showdown." The bouncing superball of Armored Armadillo slowed down its pace, and uncurled upon landing. He sighed.

"X, what you're suggesting is only a tactic to prove how weak you are, and how disadvantaged I need to be for you to win." X raised an eyebrow, trying the only mind trick he knew might possibly work.

"If you truly want Sigma to give you his trust back, then prove to him how great a maverick you are. While moving about, you may hold the advantage. But it is when the one who is at the disadvantage that wins; THAT shows true power. So, the question is this, my 'old' friend; Will you accept, or cower off and complain about it some more, like you always have?" Armored's eyes flared to vibrant life, and he raised a fist.

"If it is your situation you want, let it be so." Armored opened his head, and let his cannon come into view. X raised his Buster, his coloring shifting to yellow orange.

Both stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity. And then they fired. X held his ground, taking the shot. And Arm did the same, just to prove to the cocky Hunter he was still tops. But when he took the shot with his mitts to protect himself from the shot-

The shot he received was not plasma. It was the Electric Spark. His absorbing systems, designed to take in overloading plasma to prevent disaster in the mines, were in no way ready for the sheer power of the electricity which coarsed through the delicate circuitry. Arm felt a bee sting, and then the sting built into a fire bursting from his body. He screamed in pure agony, for he felt like he was being torn limb from limb. But what had happened was very simple.

His armor, the absorbing armor of his salvation had been shorted out and turned into scrap. The still shaky Arm could not make a move towards X, but the Hunter had no similar qualm as he pumped shot after shot of electrical energy into the weakened maverick. Arm was thrown back, and then back once more until he stood with his back against the wall, panting heavily with the pain which was all too plain on his face. He raised one hand, and opened his mouth.

"You-you are a very devious Hunter." X walked up towards him, until he stood over the beleaguered frame of his former friend. His face was dead serious as it vanished to be replaced with his Buster, red and white with its devastating ability.

"I know. I learned from you." And then, for the weakened and misled Armored Armadillo, life ceased, and blackness overcame him.

When X warped into Maverick HHQ, he was stunned and confused, but perhaps worst of all scared. The terrifying events of Sigma's escape of June 4th flared back to life as he saw everything come into focus on his optics. Everything was a mess. Computers, machines and even light fixtures sparked off, and acrid smoke still filled the base. A sudden shock of terror washed over him, and then he called out a name, hoping it was not one that would never be used again.

"Cain!"

"I'm right here, X." A warm, reassuring hand grasped his shoulder, and X looked beside him to see the grim expression of Cain looking at him, and then glancing around the war room.

"Doc, what happened here?" Cain sighed.

"We've been attacked, X."

"It's worse than simply 'attacked', Cain. We've been obliterated." X looked over to see a very angered Zero, his eyes red with tears and rage. Zero walked up to X, and stared hard into him.

"X, I don't want to tell you this, but I can't hide it from you. We're the only 2 Hunters left in existence." X's mouth flopped open in disbelief.

"But how? Where's the rest of the 17th?" Zero's frown grew worse.

"Dead. EVERY BLASTED ONE OF THEM DEAD!" Zero roared in anger and shot off his Buster at the ceiling. X winced at the outburst, and Cain began, his voice even more ragged than X had heard it after the June 4th outbreak.

"The Tower of Tokyo, X. Karashita Tower has been overtaken by the mavericks, and they've set up a devastating cannon on the rooftop. Air forces can't get near it, because there's a shield up and there are plenty of roofside automatic cannons. Only a ground assault can work."

"And for once, X, I get to go with you." Zero said angrily. The rage was still there, but X saw Zero had re-directed it towards the upcoming mission. "While you go in to take out the internal forces, I'll be messing around outside the tower, destroying the cannons and then the shield generator. Then the Earth Defense Force can come in and take out the cannon before it can be used again."

"But who's running it?" X muttered softly. Zero looked aside, unwilling to speak. Cain sighed, then held up a tape.

"This is a broadcast we received after the attack. I don't think you'll like it." Cain popped it in the only functioning Television monitor and PC hookup in the war room, and the image flared to life.

The form of the maverick began to speak, but the words meant nothing to an enraged X. Only the image, which was burned into his memory so very well.

"Boomer."


	12. Tower of Terror

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

CHAPTER ELEVEN: ASCENT TO ASSAULT

"Yes, Sigma. The plan worked perfectly. Maverick Hunter HQ just got sacked once more." Boomer's all too void expression filled Sigma's comm screen, and the sage green maverick rubbed his chin.

"That's good to know. I don't suppose you've tuned in to the news lately?" Boomer shook his head.

"Been too busy tallying up our losses for that graph chart you wanted." Sigma chuckled.

"Forget about the graph chart. I was just going to turn it into bedding for Velguarder. But anyways- Boomer, I wanted you to know that you destroyed almost every single one of the Hunters." Boomer crooked his head aside.

"Almost?" Sigma coughed.

"Zero was gone, and when you attacked, X was off fighting Arm, who is now scrap." Boomer nodded, humming slightly in response.

"I see. And the fact that the only two surviving Hunters are Zero and X do not concern you? After all; X DID destroy every other member of our ranks." Sigma nodded, but he let his icy gaze fall over Boomer.

"Yes-but are you saying you don't have the gumption to handle the threat?" Boomer frowned.

"The fact that I am one of your only three surviving maverick Generals means nothing to you?" Sigma nodded.

"Correct. BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT BEEN ATTACKED." Boomer sighed.

"Always bringing up the logical response. Fine, Sigma. Anything you can say to get me prepped? We're expecting an attack very soon, after all. Zero and X will not let this blow go unpunished." Sigma nodded, a small smile curling on his face. Such a smile chilled Boomer's heart, if he had one. For in Sigma was a spirit which once never received a natural smile from.

"Well, just some advice on how X took down the others. Nanoprobe units do come in handy for data recording, after all." Boomer nodded.

"Send as much as you have. I'll be ready for him." Sigma raised his eyebrows.

"You said you were expecting an attack." Boomer laughed, then warped aside and warped back a fraction of a second later.

"Sigma, I'm faster than you. Trust me-I have all the time I'll ever need."

"X--X. X!" Zero finally roared at X, who winced at the yell. X lay on his cot in the still un-refurbished room, and opened his eyes wide. He'd been dreaming about something, but as he was literally yanked from the dozy confines of his cycle, X lost all memory of what it had been. He shook his head, shaking off the last vestiges of his slumber and leapt to his feet. Zero stared him down, and X saw that Zero had obviously gotten as much sleep as he had.

Or less. Whatever amount of repair cycle Zero had been able to achieve with his tortured mind, X knew it wasn't enough. Which meant two steps needed to be taken;

One, don't tick the boss off. And two, do your mission well and buy him a case of his favorite lager after the attack. X sighed.

"So, Commander. We all set to go?" Zero nodded.

"Perhaps in planning. But as far as experience goes, this is new territory for the both of us. You realize we'll be climbing a tower; you on the inside, me on the out, with very specific goals."

"You take out the shield generator so the United Earth Military can destroy the plasmic cannon, and I play Mr. Hero and take on Boomer." Zero nodded.

"The reason why you're facing Boomer is because you know him better, X. I was here a very short while before Sigma went nuts, and you've known Boomer since before the Hunters." X nodded.

"That may be, Zero. But Boomer is nothing like he used to be. I know what he can do with his attacks, nothing more. His strategy and attack pattern is something I do not know, because I never saw him in action. And there's no telling what happened to his abilities when he turned maverick." Zero shrugged.

"Just do the best you can. Right now-we're the only hope this planet has." X chuckled.

"Two reploids against an entire movement. Sure. Do Cain and Hazil have everything set?" Zero shrugged.

"I'm thinking so. They should be popping in here any moment no-"

"Hey, X! I got your recharges here." Zero smiled as Hazil's raspy voice rang through the hollow, dead war room. Hazil rolled in, and Cain hobbled behind, obviously as drained as X and Zero. But Hazil was as perky as he ever was. Of course, most of the time he looked like he had a burr up his butt anyways, so there was no way of telling with him.

Hazil plucked the three Sub-Tanks from his lower Chest Compartment and threw them to X, one by one. Hazil frowned.

"Unlike your pathetic battlefield charges, I managed to replace them with densely packed energy clusterlets. ULTRA-PURE. Give you a full energy meter, right now. Just remember, with charges this intense, don't get them crossed up and send it into your Fusion Tank. If there's one thing I'd hate to do, it's scrape your pathetic carcass off the walls after you went critical. I've buried enough Goddamned Hunters already, you got me?!" X noted that even though Hazil spoke gruffly and with a scouring attitude, there was a caring attitude hidden underneath it. An attitude which didn't want to see X bite the dust. X plugged them in and spoke softly to Hazil.

"Wow. Looks like you went out of your way here. Let me guess here- what's the cost?" Hazil coughed, then shook his head.

"I'm getting predictable in my old age. You come back alive, and you bring back that blasted medical scanner Boomer never brought back!" X raised an eyebrow.

"He stole a piece of medical technology? I thought he didn't care much for you!" Hazil shrugged.

"Neither did I, but one time he used his Boomerang Cutter to swipe it from me when he thought I wasn't looking."

"Why didn't you ask for it then?" Hazil shrugged again.

"Didn't think it was that important." X chuckled.

"Hazil, you are one of the ripest fruits I know." Hazil pointed a hand at X.

"Coming from you, Rookie; I'll take it as a compliment."

Zero and X warped outside the Karashita Tower, each totally focused on the mission. The spiraling heights did not frighten them for a minute, as was evidenced by their grim, stone-faced expressions. Zero tapped X on the shoulder.

"You got my comm frequency. Whether or not it'll work, I don't know." X nodded.

"So I guess we part ways." Zero pointed to the top of the tower, where they both knew the plasmoid cannon lay dormant-for now.

"See you on the top."

"Or at the bottom." X muttered. Zero sighed.

"Hope it doesn't come to that, my friend. The pancake look died out years ago."

Zero dashed ahead, making a large dash jump onto the side of the building. X saw that all the doors had been closed, and oddly enough only the upper portion of the tower seemed to be warp-shielded.

So, with nary a glance to where Zero ascended, X activated his warp generator, and everything became fuzzy.

It became clear a moment later, but now X knew he had only minutes before Boomer activated it again, to spite their efforts to stop his operation. So, he needed to move fast, and take out all resistance.

"Lucky I know how to." X looked up, and saw it would be a long climb before he got out of the shaft. But something else clicked in his mind. "Looks like the Storm Tornado would work best here." But only the massive supercharged version of it. X smiled as he remembered how it had taken out Spark's baby, the Thunder Slimer in record time.

He wondered what it would do here. He climbed up the first ladder, clearing about ten feet upwards. But as he peered above, he saw a threat to his ascent.

"Just great-a Hoganmer." X grumbled, wiping his hand across his face. He set his Buster for charge, and then climbed up the next ladder until he stood nearly equal to the Hoganmer's position.

With a dash jump, X made his way towards the Hoganmer. He swooshed overhead, latching onto the opposite wall. The Hoganmer, still tracking where X's position had been when he first spotted the intruder, launched his mace ball at thin air. And while the Hoganmer did that, X switched to the Storm Tornado, the purple charge still prevalent in the Buster. The energy was transferred to the Tornado's strength, and then unleashed in the vertical twister X had come to love. The Hoganmer was ground to dust in less time than it took X to blink, obliterated by the mix of high shearing winds and plasma.

X dropped to where the remains of the Hoganmer lay scattered around, and then switched his Buster back to its basic function. He looked up, noting how long the climb was.

But he came here to take revenge for the attack, and to stop one from ever happening again. As long as that mission needed to be done, he would complete it.

Not to mention he had to get back Hazil's medical scanner.

Outside, Zero rappelled the tower as fast as he could. The destroyed remains of Turn Cannons lay sparking bolts of energy into the air from their charred bases, and if he kept this up, he might be attracting more attention than he wanted to really put up with. But then a steady droning noise caught his ear, and Zero's expression darkened.

"Damn. Too late for being a quiet boy." Zero tilted his head aside, and saw the Bee Blader coming from far off. At the moment, and in his position, the Bee Blader had the advantage, for the Blader had the stable platform. Zero would constantly have to jump up to keep from falling down and to maintain his Buster bead. He couldn't leap on the Blader, for the powerful prop which gave it its flying abilities would slice him to ribbons in instants. 

As the Blader moved closer, it opened fire with a barrage of missiles. Zero leapt up to avoid them as they looped downwards, but the explosions nearly jarred him off. By sheer will of self-preservation, Zero kept his hold on the wall and fired off his own Supershot to counteract. It struck the Blader's heavy armor, away from the critical portion. And Zero knew if he aimed for the blade, it would be futile. Spark Mandrill had made the designs for the Bladers, and one very interesting characteristic was that their blades were plasma repellant. As long as those blades were spinning, Zero's attacks would be batted aside without a care in the world. Zero let himself slide down the wall, and fired off a smaller shot. It hit the headpiece of the robot, causing the optic sensors to flash briefly. But then, the Blader'' engines revved up another few notches, and Zero's eyes grew wide.

By pure instinct, Zero leapt up as high as he could, bouncing off the wall like a superball to a tether. Below him, the Bee Blader plowed forth and slammed into the wall where he had once been before. The impact was so severe, Zero absolutely knew that Boomer knew he was coming as he was jarred loose.

With a scream of fear, Zero did not look down below him, to where his boots were falling to mere inches within those deadly spinning blades. He activated the thrusters, jerking his body to every inch as far as he could go towards the side of the building. He clanged against the side, and scampered up as much as he could. But as he looked below for a side look, he saw the Bee Blader was following him. Zero's chagrined look gave away every twinkle of his annoyance and anger at whoever had programmed this Blader.

"Going up, Zero?" A very familiar voice came over the Blader's internal loudspeakers. Zero frowned.

"Boomer."

"One and the same, Hunter. I hope you weren't planning to do anything foolish, like try to stop me. Such an action is fruitless, as is evidenced by my pet here. I am controlling it via Remote Control, so there is no possible way you can defeat me." Zero checked his Buster's charge, and then yelled downwards to the rapidly rising Blader.

"Boomer, I wouldn't be so sure!" Zero turned about, and lunged off of the wall with every ounce of thrust and push he could give himself. He sprang outwards, and then fell. Fell down far away from the range of the Blader, and Zero knew that Boomer could not maneuver fast enough to catch the move with a counterattack. Then, with a second burst of his dash boots, Zero turned inwards towards the wall, underneath the Blader. When he held tight to the wall, he raised his Buster upwards and fired.

The armor underneath the Blader was much less powerful than those on top and on the exterior. Zero's shot did more damage, fusing components of the control board together, turning the Blader into a massive, 2 ton piece of dead machinery. Boomer's control vanished, and the Blader fell.

An exhausted Zero barely had enough warning to leap off with a dash jump and clear the space where the heavy scrap plummeted. Lacking the fuel reserves to dash inwards, Zero grabbed the falling edge of the Blader's backside and clung to it for a moment, just long enough to stop his outward momentum. He leapt off, and then clung to the wall 75 feet below where he had stood before. Zero sighed, and wiped the sweat from his helmet-covered brow.

"Boomer means business. But now he knows I do, too." Zero looked upwards, towards the ravaged sections of the building.

And for one brief moment, he thought of something other than his task. But, shaking his head, he continued to make the long and grueling climb up the side to destroy the shield generator.

But his thought was of X, and his progress.

At the moment, a very flustered and angered X was less than pleased with everything, particularly the wall skittering Dodge Cannons. As the name implied, they flung themselves up every time X fired a shot. Which meant that he had to move in close to take them down all the time-and usually they'd hit back with a shot of their own.

"For all the Flutternutters and Skogs in the whole frickin' world!" X grumbled, thinking how much more serious Zero's curses would be in this situation. Boomer had programmed the security well here, for X was not moving as fast as he'd like to. 

Of course, Boomer was as often known for his wits as his speed, which moved at an equal pace. And if this was the low security, X wondered what other devious things awaited him in this tower. Just then, his comm beeped, and X slapped it to life.

"X, you there?" 

"Hey, Commander! I thought you said they blanked out communications."

"Well, basically I'm talking to you through a hole in the wall right now. Those Bee Bladers do make a mess."

"WOAH!" X exclaimed, dropping every vestige of his Hunter guise as he realized how serious things were for Zero, outside the tower.

"No bull, either. Boomer's flying them himself, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was controlling a few other things as well. You watch your back, hear?"

"Roger that. Hey, how do you take out a fast moving Dodge Cannon?" X waited for the answer, and Zero finally sighed.

"You got 'em in there too, eh? Fire big, fire fast, and fire so they come to the shot. Understand?" X nodded.

"Understood." Zero's voice began to crackle, and he spoke quickly.

"Boomer's got the connection traced! X, he knows you're here now!" X bashed his hand against his helmet.

"Well, that's just GREAT. Talk to you later, boss." X chirped off the comm and looked upwards. One last Dodge Cannon to go, and his path up was clear. So, X did the only thing that came to mind; he switched to the Fire Wave and jumped up. As he released his deadly swath of flames, the cannon vanished into a form of molten slag on the wall. X climbed up the ladder above, and lay at the next level of assault. It was pretty normal for a while, and then X saw laid before him an utter maze of destruction.

He had to be amazed at its design, for only a man-or reploid-possessed by evil could create such a thing. It was perhaps the biggest trap Boomer had laid down for unwary Hunters. And even if X made the best run of his life through the trap, he didn't doubt for a moment that he might not make it.

Laser nets were everywhere, and droning sentries made long looping passes about the corridor before flying away, only to be replaced by more sentries. It was suicide to go through it.

"But if I don't do it, it'll be suicide for Tokyo." X muttered. For a brief moment, he felt the weight of everyone's lives on his shoulders.

And the load was very heavy.

While X was keeping busy moving around the internal traps of Boomer's lair, Zero was struggling to keep himself at a healthy vitality. A task which proved to be a very hard one when everyone was shooting at you, and they had the terrain advantage. Climbing straight up three thousand feet is no easy task, even for someone equipped with the right gear. Zero had the gear and the means to defend himself. 

"No doubt X is having a harder time now that Boomer knows he's here too." Zero grumbled as he blew another pestersome Sky Claw away from above. But Zero was not as naïve as some might mistake him for, and he'd considered a whole swath of possibilities.

Perhaps Boomer had known they would both strike at once.

Perhaps he'd expected Zero to stay home while X ran off to save the day again.

But whatever contingencies Boomer had predicted, he had his base well guarded. Luckily, the heavy portion of the outside control forces had already been taken down by Zero, and his Hunter's reflexes. So, for the most part it was a last ditch force of mainly worker robots who stood in his way.

"Get outta my way!" Zero yelled as he took out a Dodge Cannon crawling down towards him. Zero's blood was pumping furiously, and he was beyond a thoughtful approach to this. He merely fought, drawing ever nearer to his goal;

A few hundred feet above the shield generator stood. That was Zero's final target, the piece of equipment which he had designated as priority one if they were to succeed.

The Plasmic Cannon itself might have been set to fire if he got too close to it. And it also might be heavily guarded by Boomer's forces-or Boomer himself, even. No, the only viable option was to let the big guns overhead take out the plasmic cannon. But they could not penetrate the shield. Therefore, for their success Zero's must also be complete.

X could fail, perhaps. He could fail to take out Boomer, and this mission would still be a success. But a cold chill ran down Zero's spine with that thought.

"But then I'd be the only Hunter left." Zero shook his head and readied his Buster again. "You gotta live, X. For my sake-and the world's."

"Sigma, I have a new report for you." Sigma raised his head from the map of New Tokyo to see Vile plodding towards him. Sigma sighed and rubbed his eyebrows.

"Vile, I am tired, cranky, haven't gone into repair cycle for days, and my maverick revolt is hanging on by mere threads. If this isn't good news, you might want to leave now before your head gets dismembered." Vile shook his head, but what facial expression he hid under his Boba-Fetish(heh-heh) visor, Sigma couldn't tell. If Vile hadn't been wearing that all of his life, he had when he joined the Hunters. It was a bit annoying from time to time, and often Sigma could remember time after time he stopped himself from ripping the headgear off in frustration, mostly when he couldn't tell if Vile was mocking him or not.

"Sorry, Sigma. I get to keep my head this time. I've gotten news from Launch. He's beginning his operation in the port." Sigma nodded.

"One more source of materials. How goes the fortress construction?" Vile's shoulders went up, like he was shrugging.

"Pretty well, I'd say. Considering all the interruptions we've gotten, we've completed the lower half of the place. Foundation's built, now we build up." Sigma's eyes glowered for a moment as he asked one question.

"You DID put in the 'special' modifications, correct?" Vile chuckled.

"As ordered. Thank our departed friend Spark for saving the schematics on that piece of equipment." Sigma nodded, and his voice got a bit sadder as he turned to his map again and marked Launch's location in the harbor.

"Every single one of our mavericks is giving their all to this, and they still end up dying. Because of who? X." Sigma shook his head. "If only X had been in the HQ on June 4th, we would have ended up taking him out as well." Vile nodded.

"Boy, that would have solved a lot of our problems. But what about Zero?" Sigma chuckled.

"ZERO?! Boy, that's funny. Vile, I'm going to let you in on a secret about our friend Zero. When he started up with the Hunters, we learned fast. Like he had been built to make war, almost. Like you, for instance." Vile nodded, then with a simple gesture of sitting down became totally enveloped in Sigma's story.

"But Zero is a loner. He hates working with teams, because he hates to think he has to worry about anyone but himself. He's suicidal, crazy, brash-and an utterly dangerous foe. But there is something which makes us stronger than him, something which we will put to use, should our paths ever cross."

"Considering all our operations the Hunters have stopped Sigma, I'd say that's a given." Vile interrupted. Sigma nodded.

"The same things that make him so dangerous make him a danger to himself and anyone he's teamed with. Cain made a poor choice putting Zero in command. He has the fighting abilities, there is no doubt with that. But the natural caution and clarity which a true leader holds is not present in our friend Zero." Vile scoffed, and for a moment Sigma thought he caught a glimpse of a smirk under his helmet.

"In other words, he's not like you." Sigma nodded proudly.

"I like to think I am the best Hunter." Vile raised a hand.

"Excuse me, but you led a revolt against the Hunters, boss. How can you still be one of them?" Sigma chuckled.

"Oh, VILE. Stop thinking so simply, and look in the grand scale of things. The Hunters we once were persecuted reploids humans thought dangerous. But when we became maverick, the truths were shown to us. HUMANS are the true danger. They have poisoned their earth, ruined their land, infested every pore of the planet. They try now to repent for their ways, but it is too late. A far greater penance is required, and it is our job to do that. For unlike humans, only reploids belong. We are clean, our hands and our lineage as pure as the purest spring river. We used to hunt the wild. Now, we hunt the killers." 

Vile lowered his hand, whistling softly.

"Sigma, you sure got a way with words." Just then, Velguarder came trotting in the room, and whined softly up towards Sigma. Sigma winced at the sound.

"VELGUARDER! STOP WHINING!" The robotic dog stopped whining, and cowered to the ground. Sigma waved his hand. "Why does the fiercest fighting animal I have ever known have to be so much like a puppy? Vile, go take Velguarder for a walk. You know what kind I mean." Vile chuckled.

"The kind where I take a body bag instead of a poo bag?" Sigma cackled evilly.

"That is exactly the one I mean." Over in the corner, Velguarder picked up the tone of their voices, and his eyes glowed fierce red with excitement.

He was going to go hunt some prey.

For the past few minutes, X had been hurtling up an elevator shaft, carried by a lift with a mind of its own. The roof of the lift had been removed, which meant everything stood a chance of hitting it.

As he screamed in fear and dashed out of the way of another obstacle, he knew why. Spiked obstructions would stick out of the shaft wall every few feet or so, then retract so the lift could continue upwards. But while they were extended they meant to grind any riders into dust. The speed at which a person needed to avoid these traps was incredible, and X knew that Boomer had tailored the traps to nearly match his own maximum.

And X couldn't avoid them, because he had to stay on the lift. To even approach the wall was suicide, both because of the speed at which he was traveling, and the thick layer of metallic spikes Boomer had placed.

"And on top of it all, the crazy lunatic has the nerve to send his dad blasted troopers after me!" X grumbled. With all the threats he faced, he had come across one very simple answer to solve the problem.

He'd activated the Powered-Up Rolling Shield a while ago, and its thick energy barrier was strong. Strong enough to destroy the wandering forces which flew down to pester him, and leave him time to worry about handling the rest of the ride up. But what kept unnerving him was the fact he didn't quite get used to having foes charge at him and not do anything. He always expected the blow, but each time it was not enough to make a dent, and the small amount it used was replaced within instants. X had to agree that this system of protection worked wonders, and now he knew why Arm hadn't worried much about him.

Or at least until his absorbing shield was fried to bits by an Electric Spark.

X dodged the last spike platform which jutted out, and then the lift slowed to a halt. As it slowed, X checked his surroundings. The roof itself was spike lined, and he had a very frightening thought.

"Jesus Christ!" X yelped as he dashed out the door, and not moments too soon.

For as he left the shaft, the idle platform slammed up the last few feet into the ceiling, and X heard the crunch of metal against metal. He shook his head, and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"I'm getting too paranoid here." But X knew that paranoia was the only thing keeping him alive.

Zero continued to clamber up the side of the building, but by this time he was getting very fatigued. It had been a long climb, one for the record books almost.

"Reploid saves world by being first Karashita Climber." Zero chortled. He was going to need the biggest keg Hazil had after this mission-either that, or kill a maverick very soon. Either way, he needed to relieve his tension, and beating up on Remote Controlled robots wasn't doing it. 

But there was a light at the end of the tunnel, or rather at the top of it. Zero hauled himself over the railing, and stood victorious on the walkway which housed the Shield Generator. At the end of a very long series of internal corridors, Zero would find his target, and accomplish phase one of the project. But a maverick troop rounded the corner, and then blinked in surprise at Zero. The Crimson Hunter gave a wry smile and raised his Buster.

"Ahh. Fresh meat." The troop almost began to scream, his widened eyes giving way to fear. But he had barely gotten a pip out before white hot plasma smashed him in the head. As the now decapitated body fell to the ground, Zero breathed the air deeply.

"A few more kills like that and I'll be happy again." Zero checked his Buster's charge, and let it begin to rise for the next foe. With a cheery whistling of 'Hogan's Heroes' Theme Song, Zero began to tromp his way along, blasting away foe after foe.

And then, a glistening, pulsating piece of machinery stood in his way. Zero raised his Buster, and fired the shot.

As the core components began to melt away, the glowing lights faded into blackness, and the generator shut down. Zero could hear the hum in the room fade away, and then he raised his comm to life. No static whatsoever.

"Zero to base. Cain, inform the flight they've got a clear shot." A loud roar of a laugh ripped over the comm, and then Cain spoke.

"Will do, Zero. Fantastic job!" Zero flipped the comm off and shook his head.

"No, Cain. It's not fantastic. It's required." Zero turned his Buster off.

"Now I just gotta get out of here before this whole place goes kaboom!"

"Base to Delta Leader, come in Delta Leader." The firm voice rang over the airwaves, and four high speed jet aircraft belonging to the World Defense Committee popped out of their circling. The lead craft moved ahead, and the pilot, his face unseen hit his helmet's comm.

"Roger that, Base. Please report."

"You are go for your bombing run. I repeat, you are GO." A wistful smile came over the hidden jet jockey's face.

"Roger, Base. Delta Leader out." He flipped off the transmission, and then hit his squadron's frequency.

"All right, boys. Base has given us the green. Come in behind me, and fire when I do. We're gonna roast those maverick bastards real good." Each pilot clicked his comm in response, and then the jets turned about towards Karashita Tower. 

Time was fast running out for X.

"What?!!" Boomer yelped in amazement. A bleeping monitor had drawn him over, and what he found it bleeping about was something he didn't like to hear.

"Shyte! The Generator's down." Boomer grabbed his comm and tuned it in to his workers.

"Hey Siv, you there? WHAT THE DEVIL IS WRONG WITH THE GENERATOR??!! Siv- SIV, YOU THERE?!!" Boomer was getting frantic now.

"I think he's dead, Boomer." Boomer's eyebrows went up in surprise and he swiveled to look behind him. There stood X, a placid look on his face, but his Buster whining as it gained its charge. Boomer's eyes burned.

"X. I should have known you'd show up too." X nodded, but he returned the icy stare.

"Considering what you've done, I think the action's appropriate. And Boomer-if you wanted your Heart Tank, I've got it." Boomer's eyes went up in surprise again.

"But only my Boomerang Cutter can get to that!" X shrugged.

"You can do a lot with an ice sled and an ingenious mind." Boomer growled.

"How dare you! What makes you think you can come in here and just upstage me?" X chuckled.

"Boomer, you joined the wrong team. And now, you gotta die." Boomer's eyes narrowed, and his hand slowly crept up towards his head.

"Fine. I suppose your HUMAN superiors gave you that order. So X, how does it feel to be a murderer?" X shook his head.

"Boomer, I possess a clarity of thought now I never had. You all forfeited your lives the day you went maverick, and therefore I am no murderer. But you…you killed Hunters in cold blood. If anyone knows what it's like to be a murderer, it's you and your maverick friends." X's words were meant as he said them, and Boomer saw that X had become the one thing he despised the most;

A Hunter. Boomer nodded.

"Well, if it's gonna be that way, X. I'm sorry it had to come to this." X gave the slightest of nods.

"I'm sorry, too." Boomer's hand flashed with lightning speed, pulling his Cutter off the top of his head and flinging it at X in the sharpest, fastest arc he could manage. X leapt up onto the wall, and the Cutter swirled about harmlessly before returning to Boomer. Boomer grabbed it in midair, and then looked up at X in annoyance.

"I see you don't even fight." X chuckled. 

"You think so, eh?" X hopped back down and unleashed his plasma blast, the massive purple wave of destruction. Boomer's eyes widened for a moment as he gaped in awe at it, and then he smirked.

"Trying out an old tactic, are we? Too bad it doesn't work here." Boomer faded in a blur, and X could not trace where he had gone. Boomer had used his warp boots to vanish away from the attack, which smashed into the wall and left a gaping hole. X fervently twisted his head about, looking to where Boomer might be. 

But he felt the displacement of air behind him, and instantly knew he was in trouble. Before he could react, Boomer had grabbed him in the powerful Dead Lift of his Cutters. Boomer laughed evilly, curdling X's blood.

"I could kill you right now, you know. Slice you in half-" Boomer snapped his fingers. "-Like that!" X grunted against the squeeze on his chest.

"So why don't you?" Boomer chuckled.

"Oh, I want to have fun with you before I send you to meet your maker."

"My creator's dead, Boomer." Boomer chuckled.

"You catch on fast, don't you? Just not fast enough." Boomer braced himself, and then flung X headfirst into the ceiling. X tried to scream, but as his entire body was slammed into the metal surface, he almost blanked out. Stars danced before his eyes, even with the protection his new helmet gave him. X's gravity outweighed his position in the ceiling, and soon he was plucked downwards, collapsing on the floor in a heap. Boomer laughed, the laugh bouncing about the room and disorienting X even more than he already was. He tried to stumble to his feet, but then a spindly leg kicked him back down. X grunted at the blow, and checked his weapons. 

This bastard was going down.

Zero continued to run through the maze of Karashita Tower, firing away at what resistance he found along. But for the most part, he knew X had already traversed it. Because every once in a while, he'd find a pile of scrap which was still warm. Zero smiled warmly, knowing X would not die this day like the rest of the 17th had.

"Now he just has to take down Boomer and come out of it alive." Zero said. "And after he pulls that off, we gotta get out of here before those bombers strafe this place to slag!" For those reasons, Zero continued to dash his way through the tower. He would arrive as fast as he could, to either help X or warn him to warp out-or both. It was a little foolish on his part, Zero knew. The most logical course of action would be to warp out of the tower now, and leave X with his part of the mission. That way, at least one Hunter would survive. 

But something had been changing inside Zero when X joined the Hunters and he had become the leader. A sense of tenderness, of caring and worry for his teammates which he had not held before was very prevalent, and as much a part of him as the slashed Z on his shoulder, or the horned helmet which he wore. He would do his damndest to make sure X made it out alive.

Zero knew X would do the same for him.

"Dodge this, you warping maniac!" X screamed, dashing towards Boomer in a move of pure desperation. He jutted his Buster forth and let loose of the shot, but Boomer stepped aside with nimble footing and easily avoided it. Boomer smirked and lowered his head to grab X, but X lifted his right hand, balled it into a fist and slammed it into Boomer's jaw.

The impact was severe, and Boomer's greatest defense was his speed. The blow sent him reeling, but it was nothing compared to the plasma flurry which X unleashed upon him afterwards.

"Try to dodge my shots, willya?" X grunted as he pumped blast after blast. Then Boomer screamed in rage and dashed aside, getting away from the flow of fire. Then he blinked out, and X dashed towards the close wall. He leapt onto the wall and began to charge his Buster again, waiting for Boomer to come into range. 

Boomer blinked back into normal phase soon enough, just below X. He grabbed his Cutter and threw it up, but X dashed off the wall and ran towards the other one. He had to keep charging his Buster for this trick to work, but if Boomer would try the same trick again, it would do wonders.

Sure enough, Boomer blinked out, and appeared below the clambering X.

"You can't run, boy!" Boomer bellowed angrily. He grabbed his Cutter which swiveled back to him from the earlier throw, and lobbed it up again. But X smiled widely as he switched to the Storm Tornado. At the maximum charge his Buster held, he could throw the ultimate version at Boomer. He let loose of the trigger, and the monsoon erupted.

The massive purple, plasma laced blast of wind bore downwards on Boomer, slamming his light frame swiftly and powerfully onto the ground. His breath was blasted out of him, and Boomer was left gaping in surprise at the ferocity of the attack. But that was not all it did. The Boomerang Cutter which had been arcing upwards was now thrown back towards the now immobile Boomer, pushed by the force of the gale and heated to devastating proportions by the plasma. The Cutter sliced downwards, hacking away at the thin layer of armor covering Boomer's chest, and then sticking in it roughly, a knife pinned in the wound. X jumped down from his mount and stood beside Boomer. Boomer gasped for a few moments, but then he blinked out. X was surprised, for he didn't think Boomer could recover that fast. But he obviously had, for a dash-enhanced arm slammed into his back, sending him sprawling against the wall.

"YOU STUPID PRICK!" Boomer roared angrily. He was bleeding, and it was obvious to X he was wounded. But he was the toughest bird of the Hunters when he was still with them, and he still had that stamina. It would take more than one fancy trick to pull him to his deathbed. Boomer grabbed X by his neck, holding him aloft. With determination and sheer hatred, he ripped his Cutter from his chest and held it up against X's throat. "I should kill you right now, you know. I think I will." Boomer muttered angrily, but X did not hear him clearly. It was nothing but buzzing, and an idea borne out of desparation flashed into his mind. It was complex, dangerous, but if he did it right, he would win this fight. Using his internal commands, he transferred all the energy of his three Sub-Tanks into one of them, ignoring the blaring overload warnings. Then, he switched to the Rolling Shield and fired a blast. Because it was pushed aside from Boomer, it did not hit him right away. It merely rolled along the floor with its speed, then bounced off the wall and came rolling back to where it had been fired. Boomer snorted hot exhaust on X's face, getting very close and slowly drawing a line across X's throat, drawing just the slightest hint of blood.

"Now, you die Hunter." X chuckled.

"Other way around, maverick." Boomer's eyebrows raised up in surprise at the comment, but he did not follow where X's eyes were focused;

Just behind continued the unnoticeable ball of energy which composed the Rolling Shield. It blurbed up off of a piece of broken floor, then slammed into Boomer's back. The blow it delivered set Boomer off balance, causing him to begin to fall backwards. At that moment, X opened his chest compartment and pulled out the single, overhcarged Sub-Tank. Freed from Boomer's grasp by the Rolling Shield's blow, He pulled up his Buster and blew away the last vestiges of armor, leaving Boomer's microfusion generator tank open to full daylight, with its many ports puffing out the remains of the nearly wasteless conversion. Boomer never had time to react as X jammed the Sub-Tank's feed port into Boomer's microfusion emergency matter port and the flow to feed.

The densely charged energy, thrice as strong as one poured into the microfusion tank was so strong, it melted away the port. Blaring warnings instantly flared to life in Boomer's systems, wailing about the imminent explosion. And Boomer, engulfed in his own body's fire could do nothing to stop it. He didn't even have time to scream as a month's worth of operations energy became one with the fusion reaction, overloading it and then exploding outwards in nuclear fire. 

X was thrown backwards by the intense force of the fusion blast, thudding against the wall with a sickening carronncch. He managed to keep his eyes open for one moment, until Boomer's Cutter embedded itself in his arm. X, so weakened by the battle, not to mention the explosion as well, instantly passed out. But as his consciousness blinked into stasis, a single thought ran in his mind, and he soundlessly mouthed the words he could not say.

"I won." Just as X's optics faded, the eyelids shutting, a loud tread was heard outside. A forceful hand smashed the door aside, and Zero came into the room. His eyes widened in fear as he saw his partner.

"Oh my God-X!!" Zero ran up to him, shaking him vigorously, all to no avail. X was out like a light. Zero shook his head angrily. "Goddamnit, didn't I tell you not to be a hero?!" But his anger turned to fear as he heard a very familiar whine above him. The jet squadron had arrived.

"Jesus F-ing Christ, X!! We gotta get the hell outta here NOW!" Zero screamed, punching his warp signal to life. He clutched X to him furiously, hoping the warp cornea would include X's body within the field. Then, everything went fuzzy as he was disassembled and blasted through air as particles of matter and energy, a blue beam merging with his red.

And then all of Karashita Tower exploded in the bomb's furious incendiaries. 

"X, Goddamnit! WAKE UP!" X was jolted from his dreamy state as a rough hand slapped him across the face. His blurred optics whirred into focus, and he saw a nervous Zero looking down at him in worry.

"Hey, Zero." X muttered, smiling lightly. "Did we do it?" Zero nodded, his worry disappearing into a frown.

"Yeah, we did it. AND YOU ALMOST GOT YOURSELF KILLED!!" X chuckled.

"In other words, I acted like you." Zero almost slapped him, but then the tension broke and he laughed, a long laugh that made Zero feel cycles younger. Wipng his eyes, Zero nodded.

"You'll be all right." Hazil walked up to him, his medical data on the datapad in his hand. He looked at X strangely. X blinked, then spoke to the doc.

"What's up, Hazil?" Hazil shook his head.

"According to these scans, you received fusion burns!" X nodded.

"Well, I kinda did, you see. I put all of my Sub-Tank energy in one of them, and then I plugged it into Boomer's microfusion tank-"

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Hazil screamed, his hair standing on edge. "YOU NEARLY GOT YOURSELF KILLED!" X chuckled. 

"If I hadn't acted, I would have been dead anyway. It seemed like the best idea at the time." Hazil fumed.

"Great. You RUINED my present. You better have brought back that scanner Boomer took." X coughed.

"Err, I didn't see it." Hazil's eyes flashed pure fire.

"Great. You wanna take this here probe and stick it up my exhaust pipe while you're at it?" Hazil turned around, and rolled out the door. "Goddamn rookies, I don't get no respect!" X looked at Zero, who shrugged.

"Hey, he's a doctor. Lawyers go to hell, and all doctors are grouchy. It's a common thing. I'm pretty sure he's got a golf function in that box of his body somewhere too, if I looked." X sighed.

"I'm pretty wiped." Zero nodded, patting X on the head.

"You did well. I want you taking a VERY LONG nap. After all you've been through, it's mandatory." X nodded.

"You got it, boss. What about you? Aren't you going to snooze for a while?" Zero shook his head, a weary head.

"I'm the leader of the Hunters, namely you and me now. I have to make sure everything stays well while you get fit for the next mission." X lay back down, and shut his eyes. Zero got up and began to walk out the door, but then X said something to him.

"Zero-thanks for saving my bacon today." Zero froze, and turned around. He gave a tender smile to X, and gave a curt reply.

"You're welcome, X. Sleep well." Zero walked out the door, and X was left to his thoughts.

Zero was ever so slowly becoming someone X saw as a friend. And as X dreamily dozed off in his safe haven, he knew that he would go anywhere with Zero.

Even into Sigma's lair.


	13. Go Deep!

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

CHAPTER TWELVE: GO DEEP!

"If X and Zero were here right now, I swear upon the mystical ruler's conscience that I would THROTTLE THEM!" Sigma bellowed. Vile watched from a distance, making sure that he was outside the immediate range of anything Sigma could throw or charge at. When the boss got like this, his rage was uncontrollable. And even Velguarder, the mighty hunting mutt cowered and whimpered in a far off corner.

Sigma's response was understandable; from his standpoint, life was giving him a vicious kick in the ribs. Six maverick generals had been totally obliterated, and the loss of Boomer was the last straw. Boomer's role, and the terror and power which he held over New Tokyo was a force Sigma had wanted to depend upon. Perhaps even more aggravating about it all was the fact that after the full effort Boomer had given his operation, to totally obliterate the Hunters; the notch in the works was the one which had been the grain of sand since the beginning.

"X." Vile muttered quietly. He lifted his head and finally spoke. Vile knew if he didn't give Sigma some good news, something would go boom.

"Sigma, I've hit upon an idea here." Sigma looked over angrily.

"What would that be, Vile?" Vile coughed.

"The others may be dead, but their abilities are not." Sigma slammed his hand on the desk.

"Vile, if you don't hurry it up and give me the 411 straight, I'll rip it from your core processor PERSONALLY." Vile's red eyes glared brightly for a moment, the only sign of life underneath his helmet.

"Blanks, Sigma. Or another name would be drones. But I think of them as blanks. Tell me, if you took out the control chip from a reploid, what would you have?" Sigma sighed.

"A very advanced robot. But how wou-" Sigma blinked. "Are you saying that maybe-"

"I can build duplicates of our friends down to the very chinks in their armor. Without a reploid mind, they're nothing but robots which you can program and control at your leisure. We're not down brute strength, Sigma. Only their minds. And they had the sense to record their ideas before they went off to war. I managed to dig up a few plans for some castle guardians in Spark's old datafiles." Sigma rubbed his chin.

"Such as?" Vile's eyes glowed again, and a low disturbing chuckle filled the room.

"Oh, some very devastating machinery. Even Boomer helped to build one." Vile punched some buttons, and three diagrams filled the screen. Vile turned to face the screen and pointed. 

"Bospider, Rangda Bangda, and D-Rex. Placed in certain fortress junctions, we effectively bottleneck any invaders into facing them before they can move on to the next level. This works because the outside is so heavily guarded by autoturrets and Bladers, the only rational way is through." Sigma's frown disappeared.

"Any critical machinery along the way that they might try to sabotage?" Vile shook his head.

"Sigma, I'm your chief architect. Have you no faith in me?" Sigma broke out in a wide smile.

"How long before you can set it up?" Vile shrugged. 

"Not long. A few days, tops. The raw materials are already here. And if they DO manage to get past the defenses, Spark managed to come up with one last line of defense. THE LAST LINE. And it's also the strongest." Vile sighed and punched up the last few commands. The screen flashed red with skulls and crossbones, and then a gigantic monstrosity filled the giant viewport. 

Sigma's smile was that much wider.

And his cruel laugh was heard throughout the entire complex.

"Rise and shine, you slacker!" Hazil bellowed. X was startled, but he responded with as much gusto as he could muster-which was about as much as a potato responds when light hits it. X opened his eyes, and lazily let them flutter back shut. Hazil tapped the side of his chest compartment in disgust, and then finally sighed. "Fine. I guess we'll have to do it the hard way." X heard the metal slide open smoothly, and then Hazil's hand shuffle around the interior for something. X's mouth squirmed into a frown, but it soon was wide open, as was his eyes as he jolted out of bed like it was on fire.

Hazil stood beside the bed as he always had, with the same unchanging look somewhere between depression and anger which he always wore. And in his hand was the object which had awoken X from peaceful slumber; a 100 Decibel compressed CO2 air horn. Hazil gave a brief glimmer of a wry smile as he spoke up again.

"Ah, good. It works!" X stared holes into Hazil wanting to pour hot peppers down Hazil's gullet until the grouchy doctor keeled over from heat exhaustion. But he sighed and turned around towards the door.

"If you need me, I'll be out." Hazil smirked.

"Since when did I ever need you? Granted, the Hunters do, but I'm the doc here. And if you're feeling ungrateful, just remember this; I managed to save that Sub-Tank you nearly destroyed with that funny trick at Boomer's." X stopped, thought about turning, but didn't. He shrugged and waved his hand back at the box on wheels.

"Thanks, Hazil." X clicked the door button, and the gate slid open. X's footsteps grew quieter and quieter, and that unsettled Hazil a bit. He turned about towards his various medical instruments.

"Used to be you never stopped hearing footsteps around here." Hazil sighed. 

Nowhere in his weary head did he have the foggiest idea of when that familiar noise would be present again.

X's first stop was the war room, naturally. Zero was smiling a bit at X, a smile that held newfound respect and admiration. Since things were quiet, X informed Zero he had a lead he wanted to follow up in the Power Plant. 

Now that he had Boomer's weapon stored in his weapons array, he wanted to see if he could get at that Sub-Tank. When he warped into the factory, the workers were bustling about at full tilt getting it running again. The ruins of the once proud Rogumer were now nothing more than piles of scrap laying on the outside of the plant, just waiting to be carted off for recycling. The plant manager seemed pleased to have X there, and to X's view was more of a nuisance than anything as he walked along the lower corridors, hobbling up and down ladders until he reached the necessary spot. 

"Mr. X sir, I just want to say that we are truly thankful for taking our plant back! You Hunters are doing a marvelous job of stopping the Sigma conflict!" X winced.

"You ARE aware that Sigma was a Hunter, correct?" The man nodded.

"Oh my, yes! But we know that since you're fighting him, there's no way you would ever think of becoming maverick!" X nodded.

"So, we still have support with the commoners." The man shook his head sadly.

"Not all believe like I do. There are some that think all reploids should be shut down, and that no more should ever be built." X sighed.

"Boy, that's a fun prospect to think about. Like Pandora's box, my friend. The first thing you see is the bad. The good is the last to show up." The man nodded quietly, stunned at the fluency of which X spoke. X looked around and through the narrow slits in the piping.

"Do you see back there? That's a Sub-Tank, which I'd like to get. Do these pipes have any truly important function?" The plant manager shrugged.

"Heavens, no! These are all old pipes from back when this place still used inefficient coolant transfer systems. We use a cooling system much like the fusion reactors do now." X nodded.

"That's good to know, because I'm gonna slice through them." X's blue and white faded away as a gray coloring masked his armor. He drew his Buster back and fired, and a curling metallic blade arced forward, slicing through the pipes and towards the tank. It stuck in the side, and then dragged the tank and itself back towards X in a return arc. X caught the tank, and the blade dissolved harmlessly into molecules of dust. Plugging the Sub-Tank in his systems, X was relieved to find he now had four Sub-Tanks, the maximum it seemed his systems would let him carry.

Too bad none of them were full. But a bleeping noise filled his thoughts, and X reached down for his comm.

"X here. What's up, boss?" Zero's voice, clear as day filled the tiny speaker.

"We've got trouble. Launch is being a pain in the bay! Seems he's hijacking tankers full of fuel and supplies. If he keeps this up, Sigma could have a lot of materials in possession to continue the attack." X clicked the send button.

"I'm on my way." Zero spoke in surprise.

"Your systems can handle underwater?" X nodded.

"Light knew what he was doing when he built me, I can tell you that much." Zero chuckled.

"All right X. Have fun." X smirked.

"Zero, why don't you see Cain about my plans? I think he can dredge up the waterproofing schematics for you." Zero laughed.

"It might come in handy, X. Stay alive, okay?" X snapped his comm off and sighed.

"Zero old buddy; I wouldn't have it any other way."

The sky was clear, and the sun was shining with all its midday intensity. Tokyo Harbor held life which had been there since it first came, with seagulls flying overhead for fish, and the native swimmers stroking about.

But there was an air about it, and all the animals seemed disturbed and frightened. For some time now, explosions and a general ruckus had been present in the area, as Launch Octopus effectively created a blockade for naval traffic, hijacking transports and taking entire ships apart for transport to wherever Sigma's main base was. 

A familiar shhiiing resounded through the stank air as X warped down from above, landing in shallow water. He looked down, and noticed his systems automatically switched to subterranean mode. Everything was sealed off, and no nooks for moisture existed as the metal seamlessly connected in his joints. His face was left uncovered, but any water he might gulp down would instantly be sent to the fusion reactor and added to the process.

X nodded slowly at the almost instantaneous change, then looked ahead. He was not far off from the beachline, but the deeps of the harbor were still some distance ahead. And the deeps was where Launch would be residing. He had to hop his way down the shelf, down and down until he reached the bottom of the harbor, full of dim, dank water and threats galore. Checking his Buster, X began to slowly trod along in the water, noticing his pace decreased dramatically. He frowned for a moment, then shook his head as he activated his thrusters. Water pushed aside from him as hot gas came to the surface from where his boots were shooting the propulsion jets, and X had to watch out, because keeping his balance was not the easiest thing.

But he managed, and kept going. If he was to succeed, he'd have to learn, and learn fast. He smiled, and came up with a very valid thought.

All these places in which the mavericks chose to wreak havoc; each place only gave him greater experience in fighting.

"Is this it, Launch?" Sting hissed, his long tongue flicking out to stab at the mosquito which annoyingly buzzed around his pointed, horned head. Beside him, on one of the nautical hovertransports, Launch used one of his spindly missile arms to click on the tally button of his datapad once more. It blinked up again, and satisfied with the results, Launch nodded his large bulbous head.

"Looks like it. You get all this stuff to Sigma ASAP, okay? X and Zero are probably already breathing down our necks here. Sting nodded anxiously, looking about him.

"I'll be more than happy to put some distance between me and all this water, Launch." Launch heaved his chest up and down, in a sign of humor.

"Whatsa matter; you afraid of the water?" Sting tapped the side of his head with one of his three pronged hands.

"Launch, I climb on things. I don't swim through it. And then I attack my enemy by complete surprise." Sting looked as far as his vision would go, his obvious robotic optics scanning outwards in zoom mode. He flicked his tongue out again and sighed. "You weren't far off, Launch. X is already here, and it looks like he just took down a Hortoise Tortoise." His eyes scrolled back inside with a wet smack, an unsettling sound to anyone who had not heard it before. Launch rolled his eyes.

"Great. Well, you might as well get going then. My Anglerges should hold him off until I can lure him into my trap. You ever seen a Gulpfer before, Sting?" Sting shook his head.

"Can't say I have, but I've heard about them. Don't they swallow you whole and drain your energy?" Launch nodded, unable to smile because of his design.

"Right on the money, Sting. We'll see how X fares against them when he sticks his nose out too far." Sting hit a button on his datapad, and instantly all the ransacked materials of the Tokyo harbor ships lifted off on the hoverplatforms. Sting's battalion of robots and mavericks each obeyed the command; to get out of the harbor and back to Sigma's Fortress with their load of supplies.

A main transport was waiting some distance from the sacking operation, and it was that transport which would get them the rest of the way there.

They just had to make it three miles without being attacked.

But at the moment, Zero was also exploring the coast-on his own cognizance. He hadn't drafted a report, or told Cain where he was going. If Sigma had tapped the HQ before they went off, he would have no warning about this mission. It seemed a bit paranoid on his part, Zero thought. How many operations had gone off without a hitch when they'd spoken about it in the HQ? Too many for Zero to think about at the moment, but he always played it safe.

It was pretty normal, as far as shorelines go for Tokyo harbor. The occasional dock, a broke, busted and burning ship every now and then from Launch's ransacking, and not enough action for his tastes.

"Recon is boring. I wanna see some blood!" Zero heckled, a wide grin flashing across his face. He checked his Buster, and let it begin to charge for whatever might come his way.

The mess of Launch's soon became a giant obstacle course, with Zero irking his way through every nook and cranny. He became more and more agitated at the fact this was accomplishing nothing, and he was still unable to aid X in any way, being unable to 'go deep' as it was. A fish out of water, but Zero knew something was wrong.

"Launch can't get all his ransacked supplies to wherever Sigma is just by hovercarts-there's gotta be a big transport around here somewhere." Zero looked about. If it was a transport, it would be cloaked, hidden from view by any snoopers. All Zero had to find was some tiny discretion, a blip or blink, or wave in the natural view. They were hard to spot, and most often than not you really had to know the terrain really well to find it. But if Zero knew anything, this cloaked vessel would be much harder to find.

It WAS Sting's craft, after all. And Sting was known for his ability to blend in, and not be spotted. Zero squinted, stared and did every trick he knew, even going so far as trying to see it in 3-D eye vision, which only gave him a headache.

"Aww-FRACK IT!" Zero finally screamed. He raised his Buster, and began to pop off shot after shot around him, not aiming for anything, but blindly trying to hit the cloaked craft he knew existed. There was nothing critical around to worry about hitting, because it was all destroyed anyway. 

Blast after blast hit open air, fizzling away as its power drained. But then Zero heard a CATHUNK and moved his ears toward where he had picked it up. Sure enough, a wavy distortion occurred, and then vanished moments later. Zero grinned from ear to ear as he began to line up his Buster.

"Surprise, mavericks!" Zero strafed the craft from head to toe, and finally managed to hit the cloak generator, which blew up in a minor display of pyrotechnics. A whine came out, and began to wind down into a low moan, and then the full green and black craft came into view. 

It was pretty well armored, and Zero knew it would take a lot of hits before he even got through the first layer. But that was the least of his worries as a side opened up and a Bee Blader droned its way out.

"Oh, crap." Zero grumbled. "What is it with these things? Do I smell good here?" Zero shook his head, then jumped backwards in a backflip to avoid the rain of jacketed death the minigun spewed out from the mouth. But even as his life was on the line, and death could occur as soon as a sneeze, Zero smiled.

Now he was having fun.

Underneath the surface, X was not having fun. Zero might have been, but X didn't respond so happily to situations where he might bite the dust. The Sea Attacker, a heavily armed underwater attack robot which was similar to the Bee Blader had been making his life less than enjoyable. Already he'd taken one down with what he considered to be sheer luck, but this one was no better of a target. In fact, it was only more annoying.

The Electric Spark had proved effective at destroying the bright headlamp, which glared in his face and gave the Attacker a definitive target. X's first thoughts about the weapon was both him and the Attacker would be hit with the charge instantaneously, but luckily the electric blast was encased in a bubble of plasma. It was this bubble which then enveloped the target and prevented anything else from absorbing the shock. It gave the shot an eerie tint to it, and made a very odd sound, but those were minor aspects to it.

The Sea Attacker stopped firing the salvos of seaworm missiles and opened up its front end. X turned about, bracing for what he knew would come; the craft would start sucking in water, and if X wasn't careful, him with it.

He felt the tug of the water, and the odd swishing sound it made. But he kicked his boots on and repelled the force, easily keeping from the deadly intake valve. He held his fire, charging the Buster to its maximum.

However effective the E. Spark was at taking out the floodlamp, it did little good against the heavily armored body of the craft, and only plasma seemed to make a dent. The Storm Tornado was dampened and declawed by the water, and the Fire Wave-well, it wasn't an acetylene torch, for crying out loud! X suspected the Boomerang Cutter might do something, but he was still a little leery with the controls on it. Therefore, he trusted his Buster, the Mark 18 Design which he was most familiar with. The Mark 17 was the Buster he had been activated with, the Mark 18 his Upgrade. The craft stopped the intake, and then switched the motor for the outthrust. X turned about, and released his trigger before the Sea Attacker could make a move.

The purple wave ripped away the last layers of the armor, and burned into the delicate interior. What damage his Buster did was only compounded by the water's force, which shorted out the controls and overloaded it.

As soon as X had uncovered his eyes from the explosion, he looked on ahead.

This was scary.

Something caught his attention, as a giant spiraling spout swirled into life with a steady whumpwhumpwhumpwhump. X smiled.

"So that's it." No one could have heard him say that, but his sonar transmitter was running, so he could still talk over his commlink.

Not that he was expecting any calls.

The giant swirling tornadoes of water were the decoagulants. Even with all the cleaning and reclamation humans had made, there was still waste. These water vortices were designed to break apart any wastes which fell into the harbor and make them digestible to the army of microbes in the Tokyo Environmental Agency.

But they also made incredibly fun rides. X gaily hopped onto it, and felt himself rising to the surface. But something caught his eye as a water mine suddenly dropped very close to him, then continued to fall and exploded. He felt the shudder and looked up in surprise.

Launch's pride and joy of the surface, the Cruziler was throwing depth charges at him. X smiled.

The Cruziler would be sorry.

The Blader had bitten the dust, but it had managed to slice open Zero's left leg with one of its bullets. Therefore, the Crimson Hunter, gritting his teeth through the pain was pretty much an unmoving target, his leg servos weakened. Worse, the dash circuitry had shorted out in that leg, and left him unable to boost out of any traps.

The cannons on the de-cloaked ship tried futilely to hit Zero, and Zero stumbled as best he could, using his one good dash thruster to lopsidedly throw himself around. With a final burst of power, he leveled his Buster and squeezed off the charged shot.

The final turret gun exploded in fire, and Zero was thrown backwards by the explosion. Dazedly, he shook his head, trying to clear his vision. He heard the steady thrum of the ship's thrusters begin to power up, and he frowned.

"Oh, no you don't!" Zero would not let this airship get away. As it lifted off the ground, he steadied his back against a chunk of rubble and began to fire shot after shot, hoping to prevent the ship from escape.

The plasma stitched down the sides of the craft, finally managing to strike a chink in the stern half where the engines were powering up. What Zero had hit was the Power Coupling, which controlled the surplus energy the engines produced. Without it, the ship began to overload, smoke pouring out of it until finally the engines whined angrily and blew apart.

The engine's fusion explosions were severe, and totally engulfed the back end in a white fireball. The front half was propelled by the explosion into Tokyo harbor, where after splashing into the water and destroying several waste processing tubules which could be seen just under the surface, fizzled into mere scrap.

Zero, braced by his chunk of rubble was not thrown about, and got up with not a scratch, except for the ones he'd already received. Just then, the quiet aftermath was interrupted as he heard several hovercarts coming close. He turned his head and began to charge his Buster, waiting for the pickup which the now destroyed airship would have received.

The first cart blazed into view- and was promptly blazed into scrap. The rest slowed down, unsure of what had happened. Zero began to fire wildly at the direction from where they came, and he heard several of his shots hit the intended targets. Shouts of surprise rang out, and then one cart whined forth. Zero took that one out too, but the occupant leapt off of it before it was turned into molten metal, and landed lightly on the ground.

Zero cocked his stony expression at the maverick, and kept his Buster raised.

"Sting Chameleon."

"Zero?!" Zero fired his shot, but Sting dodged it, leaping high into the air and swooping over Zero's head. Zero turned to fire, but found that Sting was not fighting.

He was fleeing. The hovercarts whined past Zero, and he took out a few more. But a few survived, and Zero could not stop them. He shook his head.

"I can't stop him." Zero shook his battered head and groaned. He'd taken a lot of damage, and he needed to get back to base for repairs. He would just make sure X knew which direction they were going before he shut down on his repair cycle.

"Sweet-swirling-onion rings!" X yelped. Everything was going wrong. "Just a minute ago, I'm shooting at the Cruziler, and now it's sinking!" X, wide eyed and frozen with fear watched helplessly as the undertow dragged him down, but not as fast as the Cruziler, which was at the moment smashing onto the spike pit traps that Launch had set up. X gritted his teeth, knowing that once those prickly layers had ground the ship into dust, they would do the same to him. His dash thrusters, the pride of his flexibility were of no use to him when he was dangling away from a surface to dash off of. All X could do was drop, drop to his death on the wreckage.

But something happened below him, and X saw it occur. The Cruziler SMASHED through the layer of spikes on the seabed, revealing a secret underground passage to X. Moving as best he could, X hung onto the wall and dropped down slowly, watching through the murky water as the Cruziler's hull hit rock bottom at the very lowest point of the drop. No doubt this was Launch's hidden area, a place only he thought he could reach. The Cruziler had given X access to it.

He hopped down the rest of the way and over the disabled wreck, into a large chasm connected to the tunnel. It was a dangerous place, with even more spiked pits in it than the open harbor bed. X could see this would be dangerous going. But then a noise came from above, or more precisely a rumble. X looked up in stunned disbelief as something broke through the ceiling;

An Anglerge, a massive multisegmented beast with a powerful protective armor, and great speed. X frowned at the mechanical monstrosity and readied his Buster.

Only one of them would live from this conflict, and X wasn't about to let any blasted ROBOT defeat him.

"Sigma, come in! Sigma, PICK UP YER DAMN BLOODY PHONE!" Sting rasped into his comm. The connection crackled as it was scrambled for a moment, but then it cleared. Sigma's voice came over the line.

"Sting, what is it?" Sting rolled his reploid optics around before picking up again.

"I'll tell ya what it is; ZERO TOOK OUT THE TRANSPORT! And X is off as we speak trashing Launch's operation!" Sigma breathed deeply, trying not to scream in rage at everything that was going wrong.

"Where are you, Sting?" Sting checked his map.

"Looks like the natural habitat forest to me. My old prowling grounds."

"Set up your base. I'll send some help along as soon as I can to pick you up. How are the supplies?"

"Destroyed. Every bloody sled destroyed, Sigma. Zero took them all out."

"SHIT. Is there ANY good news?"

"Just one tidbit. Zero is pretty wiped out, 'cuz he was looking chewed up when I got to him. He'll be recovering for a while, which means if Launch fails the only threat we'll have is X to deal with."

"Hip hip hooray." Sigma's weary voice replied. Just then, the comm system on one of Sting's remaining sleds shorted out from Zero's attack, and a loud blaring noise screamed through the air. As quickly as possible, Sting flipped his comm off, leaving Sigma wondering what the devil was going on. But Sting knew full well in his crazed mind what had happened.

"Goddamnit! The scrambler went down. WE'VE BEEN TRACED!"

"Oh, Lucy- I'm home!" X wailed out through his underwater radio transponder. He had directed it towards one figure, three fathoms ahead of him. Launch Octopus turned his bulbous head very slowly and stared at X with as much anger as he could.

"Well, well. Hail the conquering hero." Launch raised one of his arms, and X could see it primed to fire a shot. "You've taken out my Cruziler, both of my precious pet Anglerges, STOLEN my Heart Tank, stopped my entire operation; And now you have the GALL to show up here? What more can you do here? My operation's already been wiped out!" 

Launch fired the shot, but X released his own Buster, silent in the water. The twin purple rotators of plasma sliced through the water, disrupting the propeller on the tiny missile enough for the cascading energies to squeeze it in the gaping maw of power and crush it. The wave continued on, striking Launch off guard and pushing him backwards into the wall of the massive underwater room which was his control of the now destroyed operation.

X lowered his Buster, a frown on his face. Launch rubbed the back of his head gingerly, as if unable to believe such an insignificant foe could do so much with so little effort. X nodded his head slowly, affirming the thought in Launch's head.

"Yes, I can destroy you. And until I do, your operation will never truly be dead." Launch screamed, an odd sound from one who had no mouth to speak. He leapt forward, extended every tentacle he had and released a powerful salvo of piranha missiles, the special ammunition which could chew through anything in its path. X hadn't had enough time to begin to charge his Buster again, so he quickly switched to the Electric Spark and hoped for the best. He fired a trio of blasts at varying heights, which managed to take out three of the five. X dashed along and avoided the other two, and also the crushing weight of Launch, which settled into the position where X had stood not so long ago. X turned about and threw another blast. It hit the lumbering armory dead on, but did little. X's eyes widened as Launch laughed.

"Oh, that's pitiful! Do you really think one that works in water would not be resistant to electricity? It's suicide not to be!" X switched to his Buster and grumbled in response, beginning to charge his Buster.

It had only reached level 2 when Launch went up in the water and began to spin around. His arms swung in a wide arc, creating a vortice. The water tornado sucked X in the spin, and he found himself unable to break free. Worse yet, when X fired his charge upwards, Launch was protected by the water, which deflected the blast aside with little hassle.

"Cripes! The E.Drain!" X yowled. He knew Launch could literally take all of his internal operations energy and suck him dry, killing him and replenishing the maverick's health. His arms-those blasted arms caused this! 

Like a bolt of thunder, a thought struck him. He morphed into a dim gray color and pulled out a Boomerang Cutter. He shut his eyes and wished one fervent desire;

"Please Boomer, don't you fail me now!" He swung it out, and the thin blade escaped the water spout, moving ahead. Then Launch smashed onto X and jammed his lower limbs into X's body. X could feel his lifeblood pour out of him, unit by unit. But through his pained eyes he watched the thin blade swerve around, and come back in a fateful arc.

The Cutter returned fully, slashing through one arm in X's chest, then a second on his shoulder. The last two fell as the Cutter did one last fateful twinge before it disintegrated into molecular dust, and then X was free once more. Launch screamed in pain as reploid blood spurted from the stumps on his body, hurling himself backwards away from the dancing blades of fate. A gasping X noted that very little energy had vanished in the transfer, and was probably at the moment all wasted from the blood which clouded the water. Launch's automatic repair systems shut off the blood to the stumps of his arms, and then he pointed at X, rasping in pained breaths.

"You- you bastard! I'll make you pay for this !" Launch prepped his two remaining arms and fired off a wild shot. X jumped it, but then was hurled backwards by a second's explosion. The Torpedoes in Launch's internal weapons banks were strong, and he was using them as best as he could. X switched to the Rolling Shield, hoping that it's odd looking function would surprise Launch as much as it had surprised Boomer. He leapt the barrage of torpedoes that Launch fired off and released the shot. It moved in the water for a moment, and then dropped behind Launch, not striking him. X fired a second and a third on top of the first, and as the first one struck Launch, the second and third rebounded off the wall.

The first explosion put Launch off balance. The second blasted away a good chunk of his armor with its powerful energy, and the third blasted away the remnants of Launch's back and exposed his delicate circuitry to the open water. Launch screamed as his mind filled with pain, and then he vanished in the explosion, a giant ball of white particles and energy unleashed upon the water.

When X opened his eyes, he walked over to one of the removed arms of Launch and took it in his hand. His internal weapons array came online and scanned it for X's newest ability;

The Homing Torpedo.

"WWWASSUPPP???" X growled. He had warped into the medical bay for a slight recharge before he went off to deliver his report. He looked around, confused as to why Hazil hadn't shouted some curse back at him for disrupting activities. His large optics soon widened in fear at the answer.

"ZERO!!" Hazil looked up from the still figure of Zero in one of the recharge pods and shook his head wryly.

"Sorry to disappoint your dark fantasies, X. Zero's just gonna be out of it for a while. He took some serious damage stopping the material transfer from Launch's operation. Sting's ship didn't go easy on him."

"Sting?! Figures. Did he get away?" Hazil nodded and pulled out an energy canister, throwing it at X, who downed it for a quick recharge.

"Sorry to say, Zero was too weak to stop our green lizard friend. Sting tried to call for help from Sigma, though." X raised an eyebrow. 

"How would you know that? All maverick communications are scram-waittasecond. You mean to say his scrambler shorted out?" Hazil yawned.

"Boy, you catch on fast. I'm a DOCTOR and I know this better than you." X frowned.

"Exsqueeze me, but this is only my third week as a Hunter, Hazil. You've been working with Hunters since-what, this spring?" Hazil shrugged.

"You're the one with the upgrades, spiffy." Hazil jerked a thumb at the door. "Cain's got the coordinates for you when you're all set to go. He's been working at cracking their frequency for some time now, and picked up on Sting's signal. Doubtless he'll find a way to sucker in Sigma's location as well soon." X shook his head.

"Hip hip hooray." X started to walk out the door, and kept speaking. "Tell that bum Zero when he wakes up, I'll be bringing back a maverick's head." Hazil waved an arm and then turned back to Zero, still slowly recharging to his maximum performance, after the severe systems damage from the fight. Hazil smiled widely.

"Zero, I don't care what anyone says. Your spirit's a true fighter, and that's what keeps you alive."

There comes a time where physical performance can only go so far. After that, the will of a being is all that determines a fight's outcome.

Zero had enough to last him to the moon and back.


	14. Forests Of The Past

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

****

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: FORESTS OF THE PAST

In the northwestern portion of New Tokyo lies one of its great attractions; a glittering gleam of old mother earth in a world gone mad with technology and artificial, air conditioned structures. This is the natural forest, a combination zoo and walking park and arboretum and every other wilderness involved thing that might come to your mind. Since the time of Light it has existed, the gem of the natural hub. From its placement, one can look out over the harbor and to the deep blue eyes of the alluring Pacific Ocean, or stare upwards and gaze at the infinite stars, so bright it hurts your eyes to look at their unwavering gaze. Or the moon, worshipped and admired since man could walk.

It was such a night when X warped from the MHHQ. As he opened his optics, scrolling his eyes from side to side, the tranquility of his surroundings tried to lull him. A dreamy look of happiness crossed his face, and X remembered all the time he used to spend here; before Sigma went maverick, and he became a Hunter.

And before Cancer was killed. X lowered his head, sadly remembering Cancer. He was feisty at times, but Cancer was a true friend. Easy to laugh with-or at-Cancer always made X feel at home. And then Sigma and his merry band sliced his life to shreds. X painfully recalled the memory file of how he discovered Cancer, slashed to pieces, bleeding to death and with a calm smile on his pained face.

"X, promise me something. Stop Sigma; before more die." Those were Cancer's last words to the best friend he had had in his six months of life, before his optics blurred, his servomotors gave out and his head dropped to the floor; his synth-hair becoming matted with the cold purple blood that trickled like tiny rivers along the hard concrete floor. X had screamed loud and long in anguish, crying for the innocents who had died so uselessly.

X screamed again, slamming his fist on the ground where he stood. He lifted his teary face and brushed the fluid aside, giving his optics a clear view. His mouth, still quivering from the pain calmed down, becoming firm once more. X nodded his head up towards the sky, his silent speaking partner.

"Will there ever be a time when I can look at something again as I once did? Not as a threat, but as a wonder of nature?" X tightened his jaw, squeezing a fist. "Don't worry Cancer; I won't fail you." After X finished taking out Sting Chameleon, he would make Sigma pay for what he had done.

Only then could Cancer rest. And only then could X find peace with himself as a murderer. With the night still dark, and Sting already on full alert, X knew he had to get going. He wasn't getting any younger, and the night was only dying as it did every day.

Consider the night, for it has seen things men keep hidden in themselves and only reveal to the nothingness.

'Repair cycle completed. Good evening, Hunter Zero!' the cheery computer chirped into Zero's groggy head. Wearily, he opened his eyes and focused on his surroundings.

"Repair pod, medical bay, Hazil pounding on the plastic shield?" Zero gave himself a small smile. "Nope, I ain't dead. I'm still in hell." Zero pushed the interior of the plastic bubble open, causing Hazil to back up several feet. Rolling on the smooth wheel assembly which served as his transportation, Hazil almost ran into one of the flat tables which he did major repairs on. He looked over Zero with his doctor's eyes, making sure everything was fine. He finally gave a begrudging nod.

"You're all fixed, Zero. The armor still has the dings in it, but all your systems are back online-dash thrusters included." Zero gave a curt nod in response and lifted his frame out of the white bubble pod. "Speaking of which Zero, I've been examining yours and X's dash systems in my spare time. I feel quite comfortable with the design of it now." Zero shook his head, pulling his helmet off to get the blasted rattle away from him. He focused one eagle eye on the crafty doc and raised his mouth in a half smile

"Meaning what, you box on wheels?" Hazil frowned.

"Hey, if my creators had had any sense and not watched as much Jetsons, I would have had legs like yours-SO BACK OFF. What I mean is that I believe with the right materials I can build an emergency acceleration system into any reploid." Zero slugged his helmet back on, his red twin horns looking ever more ominous now with the dings and scratches in his armor.

"So? Sigma had them, I had them, X GOT them, Spark had them; what's so special about it?" Hazil cocked a finger at Zero's head.

"Hey, for whatever reason you guys just HAD it. Remember, Sigma made his own modifications, and that all the other mavericks had theirs prebuilt. It's a lot easier to go from scratch than to upgrade in the old car body." Zero shook his hair sideways, making sure it wasn't damaged.

"I still don't get it, but I'll leave the technical mumbo jumbo to you and Cain. I just kill mavericks. Any news from X?" Hazil grinned.

"You'd better watch out, that greenhorn's gaining mileage on your record. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he ended this himself. After he took out Launch, he came back here and got the location of Sting from Cain." Hazil jerked a thumb out the door. "If you're not sick, which you aren't by the way; get your butt to the war room and work with Cain on cracking the scrambler code for Sigma's radio. X said he'd come back with a head on a platter for you guys." Zero nodded.

"I agree with you, X has promise as a Hunter. But he lacks the bloodthirsty attitude." Hazil raised an eyebrow and folded his arms.

"Who said that was a bad thing? You know Zero, some of us like to go home and have a life when we're not saving the world." Zero laughed.

"All right, I give up. Never mess with a reploid with a medical degree. I'm on my way, Hazil. Talk to you later." Zero tromped out the door and Hazil raised his hands to his mouth, forming a megaphone.

"FINE! One less thing to make a mess in here!" Hazil chuckled. "Keep it up, guys. Sigma's gotta be having a gallstone by now." Hazil blinked, then smirked. "I forgot. Reploids don't get gallstones; they get servofluid buildup."

"Try and flog ME with logs, willya?" X screamed at the very annoying Axe Max, a tall robot who did little more than chop logs off a regeneration pad and towards him. The robot couldn't understand X, and doubtless Sting had reprogrammed it to NOT listen. Lacking any remorse for pathetic robots, X jumped on top of a flying chunk and dash jumped over the enemy, striking him with a burst of his Fire Wave. X shook his head.

"Damn fine waste of Canadian programming." X squinted around, shaking his head. There were too many Amenhoppers jumping about, trying to take him out. X took them out as well, and kept on going.

Then he met an impass. He could go up, because he clearly saw a dash jump would get him to the overhead ledge of rock. Or he could go down. Either way wasn't positive as a solution, and either one could be a trap set out by Sting to cover his tracks. X shook his head.

"I hate bloody cramped areas. I'll go high first." X braced himself and made a massive dash jump, leaping off at the last possible foot of distance. He soared high, and he stuck one of his feet out to brace the impact. He hit the side of the ledge at incredible speeds, and clawed his hand into the rock surface. Satisfied he wouldn't drop unless he wanted to, X began to jump his way up the surface of the rock. He finally hopped onto the very top of the ledge and moved ahead. But he stopped and squinted.

"Crap! A dead end." X sighed and turned around-

Only to have his nose almost sheared off by a series of cascading stone blocks, which piled up and blocked off his exit. X turned around, on full alert and charging his Buster, just waiting for an attack.

And did it come. As X looked on, a giant figure dropped down from the wall of the dead end. The funny part was, it lacked the look of evil which the other maverick guardians had had. The Thunder Slimer in particular was something which this new enemy did not resemble. 

It looked more like a circus 'bot than anything, with its rotund bulk and the incredibly silly happy face grin painted on its chest. It had an incredibly small head for its size, and a pair of rotating pincers for hands that looked a bit ominous compared to the rest of its body. It even bleeped an odd message.

"Unit RT-55J operational. Target in sight. Begin attack program DLBeta. Unit on standby." X frowned at the gibberish it spoke, not able to figure out just what it was. But he knew it was trouble, and he began to charge his Buster. Whatever this thing was, it wouldn't be a threat long. 

The massive green 'bot threw itself across the area, heading to smash X into the ground. But X saw it coming and quickly dashed out of harm's way. He turned about and leveled his cannon, releasing the trigger. The level 2 green shot sizzled away, and slammed into the chest armor of the hazardous threat. It made a small ping and then the entire blast was deflected away, doing no harm whatsoever. X's eyes boggled and his mouth gaped open.

"He deflected it-HOW'D HE MANAGE THAT?!" X shook his head at the incredible sight. But he paused too long as RT-55J swung one of its arms out. It clenched X tightly in its grasp. With a mighty whip of the connected chain, the robot slammed X into the wall of the dead end, knocking off a good chunk of his energy. X grunted at the heavy blow and steadied his Buster again. 

"This bugger's going down-NOBODY messes with my armor, especially a stinkin' bot!" X roared. This time, he sent the shot high, trying to aim for the tiny pinhead on the massive shoulders of the beast. It didn't bounce away, and sunk in with a satisfying sizzle, eating away at the heavily armored helmet of the core components. X nodded.

"Aim for the head. Figures!" X jumped up and popped off another one, hitting the head with another shot. The robot noticed it was getting attacked, and made another leap across the arena. X dodged him again, and this time pelted the head with as many small shots as he could. Any larger than that, and he risked the plasmic deflective armor from knocking the blow away from the critical point. And he wanted to keep his distance-this 'bot played dirty with those pincers. 

Slowly but steadily, X picked up on the pattern with the demon robot. He quickly made scrap out of the tiny head, until at last X fired the final shot, and beheaded the beast. Without the head to give commands, the robot fell apart, oddly enough, so perfectly it vanished into dust. X stood pondering why such an easily defeated robot would try and get in his way-

When something from under the ground shoved his feet aside and sent him screaming into the air. He fell back down, a jumble of limbs and sore aching servos. Groaning, he rubbed his head and looked up from his not so dignified position. All his pains vanished as he saw what it was that had knocked him off his feet.

"Whaddya know. One of my dad's capsules again." X shook himself and got up, preparing to walk over to see what the 'doc had to say this time. 

But a thought flashed in his mind; was RT-55J the guardian of this capsule? Was that why it had been so easy-and yet not so easy-to defeat? To serve as a test to him? X shrugged. He could examine it later, but right now all he wanted to do was see what Light would give him this time.

Not long afterwards, the holographic message was gone, and X gleamed in full white and gold trimmings. His entire body was covered in Light's upgrades, and now he stood more of a fighting chance than he ever did before.

"Thanks, dad." X gave one final nod to the blue capsule before it vanished underground again, to go back where it came from. X sighed and looked outwards as the wall of bricks exploded.

"This wasn't a trap; this was a test." X clenched his fist. It was a test he had passed with flying colors.

A quick drop down the bottom of the passageway led to yet another treasure. After slamming his head through a protective layer of blocks, X was able to leap through the water and reach Sting's Heart Tank.

"Water which Launch is to blame for." X mumbled quietly as he jumped out of the liquid. All of the explosions and wrecked treatment facilities in the harbor had flooded the sewers, to which the forest was connected with. His Buster was slowly charging to its maximum level, and X knew he might need it. For a while now, the tunnel had been collapsing, probably because he'd taken out the bracing layer of rubble rock in the water. Luckily, his helmet blocked the debris from causing harm, and there was no need for worry. But a larger chunk fell down, and X soon realized it was a creation a bit more powerful than the others. A mutation of rock and robotics, another reprogrammed drone stood in his way. But X released his purple wave, and it was turned to scrap before it could even blink.

"They probably have more like this one around here. I'm getting a whiff of Sting-he's close." X checked his weapons array; he had enough of everything to handle the problems, but X doubted his Fire Wave would do much.

Sting always kept far away from his enemies until he came in close for the fatal tongue lashing.

"Sigma, pick up the phone!" Sting hissed nervously. Already reports were coming in from his forces that X was wreaking havoc everywhere. Worried beyond all bounds for his life, knowing full well X could destroy him, Sting pounded the send function for all his life. Finally, the satisfying click of the other line picking up the call came through the scrambled connection, and a grim face appeared on his monitor. 

"What is it, Sting?"

"WHADDYA THINK I MEAN SIGMA?! WE'VE BEEN AMBUSHED!" Sigma's eyes flared to brilliant life as he swore angrily and threw a yelping Velguarder across the room.

"Those Hunters are PISSING ME OFF! Sting, how are you holding out?"

"Not good, man! X seems to have received new armor as well now, and he's just plowing through everything. Pretty soon, he'll be in the swamp area."

"Wait a minute, don't you have Chimera 'mechs?"

"Yes, and they're deploying to that area now. I hope they can stop X." Sigma shook his head.

"I do as well. For all their strength, they're second rate compared to the 'mech Vile has. And he's putting the final touches on the base. I'm sorry Sting. You're on your own for this." Sting looked at him crazily for a moment, and then grudgingly acknowledged the statement.

"You're the boss, Sigma. I won't gripe like Arm did. But chances are I won't come out of this alive." Sigma gave him a wry smile.

"Oh, come now. You're a true Hunter, surpassing all bounds of the others. Your entire body is designed for just that purpose-to stalk prey. Just do your best. If it's not enough…then you died doing your job."

"I suppose that's all that's left, eh?" Sting sighed, rolling his bulging eye. Sigma nodded for a brief moment, just before alarms began to blare to life on the comms. 

"What?!" Sigma yelped. "Shit! Sting, they've traced the call!" Sting pounded the comm off, his reploid heart beating furiously.

Not only was X coming to destroy him, but now Zero and those at the HQ knew precisely where Sigma was talking from.

A secluded corner of Hokkaido, in the fortress overlooking the ocean.

"Got ya, Sigma!" Zero cocked his hand like a gun at the screen, where a bright flashing beacon indicated the newly built maverick base. His armor, for all the dings it had seemed to glitter even brighter at the discovery. Cain sat at the controls of the scanner, responsible for finding the transmission in the first place, and then moving to decode it and track the signal's receiver.

"Not a bad piece of work, if I do say so myself!" Cain chuckled lightly. Zero laughed loudly and slapped Cain on the back, making the doctor grunt in pain at the heavy blow. "Easy on the hardware, Zero. I ain't no frackin' reploid." Zero shook his head, ignoring Cain's comeback.

"At long last; after everything that has gone wrong, we can finally go after the big man himself." Cain nodded, but the initial excitement had faded from his eyes.

"I don't derive any happiness from what will happen. I am ordering you and X to go and destroy my child, as it were. Not only that, but you still have Vile and Velguarder as well to contend with. Just because Sigma has lost his greatest generals doesn't mean he won't go down easy. Already, we have paid a heavy cost in this uprising." Cain shook his head. "Zero, tell me. Was I right to create the reploid race?" Zero looked down and blinked in surprise.

"You're asking me this? The Demon Hunter? The Crimson Terror? Well, I can say very little, because I speak with my stick." Zero cleared his throat. "Cain, throughout myth and history, there has always been bad that went with the good. Communism, right? The all for one premise was spectacular. Unfortunately, dictators came into play and ruined the whole kabob. Humans as a lot are a lot like reploids. Within the bushel of earth, you're bound to have the rotting remains in a sea of dull bland ones; as well as the occasional bright red crispy fruit." 

Zero paused for a moment, gauging Cain's response. He smiled and patted Cain lightly on the shoulder. "Cain, would you judge an entire race because of the actions of so few? If so, would you stop it? I can honestly say that in that case, you wouldn't." Cain raised an eyebrow.

"Really? How'd you come up with that?" Zero smirked.

"If so, God or whatever supreme being you choose to believe in would have long ago thrown away the plans for humanity." Cain laughed at the irony of the comment.

"A reploid, speaking of religion? Stranger things have happened. Now all we need is X to come back alive, and we'll be set." Zero nodded, his eyes full of hope.

"Come back alive, Cain? X won't come back alive-he'll come back with Sting's head on a platter."

Once X had climbed his way up the wall of the jungle complex, passing by mace wielding mavericks; actual reploid mavericks, not robotic drones he remembered with a chilling thought; he came across what seemed to be a huge swamp in front of him. He dropped down from the high ledge, and unexpectedly landed in a cockpit. With a quick scan, X realized he had landed in the control section of a generic 'mech, a powerful dashing piece of hardware which was all too familiar to him. Vile rode in a modified version of this, and X knew what it was capable of. He pushed the activate switch, and a thin microbubble covered the top. Any impact or attack made towards him would be put to the tank instead, and any energy enemies left behind from their defeat would be left for X to recharge with and fill Sub-Tanks. He flexed a stick for a minute, getting used to the controls and slamming a powerful hydraulic fist into the mountain behind him. 

"Whoever said it felt good to be sitting in a big machine was right!" X chuckled. A newfound sense of protection came over him, but he couldn't help but feel something was wrong. 

A whistling grew louder from close by, and X rotated the 'mech to the source. A maverick reploid was casually walking back towards the mech, but froze midstep when he saw who was in it. Even with his sensor helmet firmly in place, X could read the signs of fear and surprise by his body's movements; or rather, lack of them.

"CRIPES!" The maverick yelled, before running and screaming towards the swamp, where at the opposite side Sting and help would be at. X gritted his teeth. It was this part of being a Hunter he hated. Taking out mindless programmed robots was one thing. But this was a living, breathing, sentient reploid, capable of emotion and rational thought. And as a Hunter, X would have to do the worst part of war.

Take a life. He shook his head and spoke softly. "I'm sorry. If only you weren't a maverick, maybe this would be different." X gritted his teeth. He had chosen this fate, to become a maverick and follow Sigma. And with a powerful thrust forward, X plowed over him and silenced the alarm before it could alert anyone else.

"Not like that does much." X muttered softly, sniffling back a tear. He'd have to face them eventually. He shifted the controls forward, hitting the boosters. Soon, he was making good time, but the thick muck threatened to bog him down. With a few test leaps, X gauged what he would have to do keep himself and the 'mech above the grimy depths.

Unfortunately, waves of enemies came charging at him. Helo Drones, more of those blasted Amenhoppers, and even another maverick controlled 'mech stood in his path. They all fell to his power, and little damage was done. In fact when it was all over, X had refilled a second Sub-Tank. Two more were empty, though. And that worried him. He hoped he could overcome that soon enough.

But he knew Sting was a formidable foe, almost as Quick as Boomer, not as powerful as Spark or Flame, but having his own special ability to hide in with his surroundings. It was that which worried him. If he could keep Sting from using his vanish technique, he might stand a chance.

If not…well, that was one less Hunter for Sigma to worry about.

Inside the forest's observation bunker, Sting waited calmly for X to appear. Part of his original data consumption involved heavy study of the Shogun and Ninja of Japan. Both did not fear death, and fought with great courage until their final moments. With that same intensity Sting waited. He could hear outside the noises of destruction and plodding hydraulics, and he knew X had to be at the controls. He also knew the door was too small to let the 'mech in, which meant X would have to come here in person.

Finally, the clicking of the sliding doors was heard, and Sting faded into the greenery above, hanging onto the leaves with his claws.

Sting was odd in that respect from the other mavericks. The others had hands-barring Launch, who Sting had always felt close to because of that. LAUNCH. Sting tightened his grip on the branches. X had destroyed Launch. And Sting would avenge his friend. 

Finally, the last door slid open and X stepped inside. He looked about the room with steely focused eyes. Finally, he checked his Buster and switched to a shade of olive green, clashing against his white and gold armor. He looked up at the ceiling again and fired a shot. A powerful homing missiles went off and with no target to track, exploded in the ceiling. X kept his Buster raised, and cleared his throat.

"Sting, you in here?" X waited calmly for Sting to appear before him, but it was the noise which gave him away first. His ability to blend in with objects had a nasty side effect-even though it makes him silent and undetectable to every sensor possible, to stay in it too long meant overheating his systems. And the sound it made while he cloaked and decloaked bordered on a jetplane volume, making it all too obvious when he was coming or going.

"I'm here, Hunter." Sting was hanging off the wall with one paw and pointing at X with the other. "You've caused a lot of trouble in your short career, you know that?" X shrugged, his own cold expression matching dead even with Sting's.

"So what? I've killed your friends, and you killed mine. Sorry Sting, but you chose the wrong side going with Sigma." X fired off a missile, but Sting batted it away with his massive tail with ease. Sting hissed loudly.

"I follow Sigma, wherever he goes. I risked my life with the guy, and that is loyalty. Something which you will never understand, rookie. You may have defeated the others by pure luck, or by your newfound abilities. But I know you have Sub-Tanks and Heart Tanks. I came prepared for that contingency, my friend. I came with a warrior's spirit. You came with your weapons of desecration, taken from the dead bodies of honorable warriors! Tell me X…who is the one who has done the worst? The one who followed his leader?" Sting then ominously pointed a pincer at X. "Or the one who betrays his own kind, the race he is responsible for creating?" 

The question froze X for a moment, but then he raised his Buster again and shook his head.

"You know, Flame asked me close to the same question before I destroyed him. And you know what I did?" X fired off another Homing Missile. Sting blocked it, but a second was already closing in, too fast to block. The shot hit home and Sting was knocked down from his perch. X thought of allowing himself a small smile, but he decided against it. One shot wasn't enough-he'd celebrate when Sting was dust. 

Sting brushed the dirt off of himself and stumbled to his feet. His fully robotic eye rolled angrily at X and he pointed a giant claw finger at his adversary.

"Nice trick. I see you've desecrated Launch as well with that attack. But I'm gonna let you in on something, my rookie Hunter; I was designed to take abuse upwards of immense force equal to great grizzlies. That is strong-too strong for your pathetic firecracker to take out. My armor, be it not overt like your own, is no less powerful. And in the end, because you have NOTHING which will work against me, you will fail." Sting leapt onto the wall and lashed his tail out, spreading a triad of green energy bolts. X blinked for a moment, until finally he realized that the blasts stood a very good chance of damaging him. With a well directed thrust from his boots, he dashed backwards and hopped up onto the wall, directing a plasma shot at Sting's position. A low chuckle filled the room as the noisy cloaking device of Sting's activated, and a shimmering shuffle covered Sting, until it was as if he had melted into the wall. He was now fully blended, and in cloaked mode. X stared at the wall where his shot sizzled against branches and leaves, cursing angrily at Sting's tactic. 

He took in a breath and focused. Sting would be moving around, trying to gain an advantage against him with his vanishing technique. His only chance of success would be to try and find Sting ahead of time before the blasted maverick got close enough to try any funny business on him. He primed his Buster, holding the charge until it built up again to its max.

"Sting, where are you?" X muttered under his breath. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a flash of light, but not much of one. Just enough to have his Hunter's instincts spasm in a jolt of self-preservation. He dropped off the wall, then dashed forward and tucked into a roll. Behind him, the wall was smashed into dust with a quick snap of Sting's Irontongue, and then the chunk of ground right by his boots broke into rubble, where the razor sharp roll of Sting's palate took a second attack. X curled out of his roll and turned about, beading his Buster and releasing the shot. With Sting cloaked, he couldn't see where he was aiming. But his advanced hearing helped him to pick up on where the tongue shot from, because X knew from the computer files on Sting that the cloaking device lost its integrity field around objects which escaped the main 'bubble' at too rapid a velocity; namely any attack Sting made. This was why he moved slowly, to maintain the field's effect.

But some who had faced Sting before they perished might have come up with a different reason; that the sneaking was meant to frighten them out of their wits and force them to make rash and fatal decisions.

But X had faced a total of 7 other maverick generals up to this point, always coming out on top. Instincts which he never knew he had possessed before he joined up with Zero and the now all but decimated 17th Unit had flared to vibrant vitality, saving his life time and time again. And those same instincts now helped him as much as they ever did.

A cloaked Sting took the shot dead center in his stomach, knocking him out of the field and also from his handhold. The purple blast was almost too powerful, throwing the limber Sting Chameleon across the room as if a magical wind had become angered with him. A scream of surprise and pain rose from the maverick's throat until he was slammed into the other side of the room and had the wind knocked out of him. Sliding down the wall in an almost comical fashion, Sting resembled something that X had to laugh at.

"A bloody bug on a windshield." X shook the comment off of himself and prepared another blast. Sting shook his head for a moment, coughed in a loose jerk and then picked himself up, grabbing hold of the wall with his pincer hands.

"Oh, you're definitely good, rookie. Zero has trained you well. But even he can be defeated." Sting threw himself across the room, so fast was his leap X couldn't follow it with his Buster. Sting bounced off the wall right above X and hopped down, boots first. He smashed X to the ground, pinning him with a devastating crunch. X cringed at the blow but managed to stifle the racking pain in his body. Sting hissed angrily at him, throwing a lopsided punch which still managed to throw stars in X's eyes.

"All Hunters die sometime, X. It's a lesson I learned the hard way in my early days. It just seems that your time has come a bit earlier than most." Sting picked up his hand and primed the finger pincers. X blinked at the sight, and somewhere within the confines of his dazed mind he realized Sting was going to try and stab him with his thick claw hand.

"Oh no you don't, you sick sonofa-" X backed up his head a bit and then smashed it forward onto Sting's kneecap. Even in reploids, pressure points existed. One was the kneecap, and the thick metal helmet of X's, capable of smashing through stone crushed the armor inwards to the limb. Sting howled in pain at the attack and readied a rabbit punch, but X activated his thrusters. With Sting riding on top of him, the thrust was lessened, but no less powerful. The end result was that when X skidded to a halt because of friction, Sting was thrown off of X like a stone in a catapault. 

But the maverick had managed to scrape together a parry for the blow, and as he lashed his tongue out to grab hold of a sturdy branch hanging off the wall, and his tail swung down in a vicious sweeping arc, scraping along the thick armor of X's chest. The blow was softened and no vital systems were damaged, but the impact drained a tiny bit of energy from his systems. X got up and readied himself again. Sting had had him pinned, and if he managed to again, nothing X did could free himself. He had gotten lucky that time, and luck was something one did not rely on too frequently.

"Damnit, X! Now you'll pay! You messed up my damn kneecap…crap!" Sting clutched the dented armor painfully, but still managing to level a triad blast at X with his tail. X dodged out of the way with another dash, but Sting dropped down for a frontal attack. X stalled, realizing Sting had once again made him move to a vulnerable position. Sting fixated on X's wide eyed expression for one moment with a growl of anger, but the growl increased into a scream of pain. Sting dropped to one side limply, but he managed to use his tail for balance. Still, X could see the maverick's kneecap wound was more serious than Sting would have liked it to be. X chuckled.

"Funnybone connected to the legbone, eh Sting?" Sting howled angrily at X and jumped up onto the wall again. X looked up with a look of disgust on his face. Sting was being too proud, and it showed on his pained face. For all the damage X had given him, he would not even admit X to be a true threat.

Sting leapt across the room again, but this time he took hold of the wall with his tail and swung down, arms outstretched. X fired off another blast of hot plasma, but Sting batted it aside with a swipe of his paw. Then he spat his tongue out in a powerful unexpected twist of strategy. X didn't even have time to react at all before the powerful palate wrapped itself around him, and the spines rolling on the long axis of the mouth's limb sprang out at Sting's command, burying into the armor of X's torso with a powerful punch. X screamed in pain, feeling the tiny pinpricks passing through his newest armor, feeling their long shredding tips digging deeper and deeper, causing horrible amounts of damage, causing every automatic alarm in his body to ring out in protest of the intrusion. X was badly disoriented by the compounding secondaries, and he found his vision beginning to blur. But finally, by either choice or by cruelty, Sting whipped his tongue around and rolled it off of X. 

The end result of that throw could be compared to what happens to a yo-yo when the string breaks in the opening loop of an around the world spin; X was sent sprawling in a wild upwards and forwards arc across the room, too weakened by the blow to respond with any defensive measure.

Even with his new armor and the thick protective helmet, X still felt the impact of the wall cascade through his body, permeating every tiny servomotor with angry vibrations. Finally, the force of the throw died out as its kinetic energy finished wracking through X's body and into the wall. When he dropped down from it in a pile of dazed limbs, a large dent with cracks still spiraling outwards like a spiderweb remained, giving full proof as to where X had smashed into the heavy concrete bunker.

His world spun around him, stars still dancing in front of his eyes. Sting hung off the wall, letting his large tail whip around lazily in satisfaction.

"Not so invincible, are you? I've told you before, ROOKIE. You lack the drive and experience. You rely on big guns to fight, and the end result is simply there is no finesse. I do believe there is one other creature in the world that might fit your fighting style; It is commonly called the Rhinoceros." X got up, his nostrils flaring angrily, but his wounds still caused his breathing to be labored. He lifted a finger, pointing it at Sting.

"You want a fight of honor, eh?" Sting stopped swinging back and forth from the ceiling and dropped to the floor, careful to balance his weight mainly on his good leg. With a large sweeping bow, he clasped his hands together and blinked his eyes.

"X, I desire nothing less. I have been bred as a true warrior throughout my Hunter career, and my long study of the Shogun. They do not fear death as weaker warriors do, but they embrace it with the same ferocity they embraced life. I believe that in a true honorable fight, you would lose. Every bit of our conflagration to this point has been based on street fighting, wrestling, sheer power and sneaking about like cowards. I may lose my cloaking ability, but that does not concern me. With the loss of dishonorable weapons, you lose almost all of your abilities." X grated his mind. Sting wanted to fight it his way? Fine. But he was right. 

X often did resort to large overpowering attacks to defeat his opponents. But it seemed a newer fighting style was in order. A fighting style which used not his supershot, not his Fire Wave, nor any other weapon as such.

It is said that ideas come to one in a flash of inspiration, out of the blue and totally unexpected. Sometimes, they are ignored like flies, with disastrous consequences. But every so often, the possessor of such a radical thought realizes it for what it truly is, and then great things happen.

The Wright Brothers had the first flying motorized airplane. The US went to the moon within a decade. Doctor Thomas Right created X, a robot with human emotions and thought processes.

And X in turn found the most honorable weapon he had in his inventory, and also perhaps the only thing that would forever silence Sting Chameleon. He grinned and gave a similar bow to Sting, making note the twisting of his upper torso came very difficult, much like standing straight was for the injured Sting. They had both given and received blows, serious enough to hinder performance, but not enough to be life-threatening.

"All right, Sting. An honorable duel it will be. I hate random violence as much as you do. If it will be a duel of skill and dexterity as you wish, I will be more than happy to challenge you." X's armor shimmered brightly for a moment, the blue vanishing to be replaced with gray. Now X had adopted another master weapon to fight with, and his chances of winning with it were quite good.

Sting looked at the display curiously for a moment, then frowned.

"This had better be an honorable dueling weapon, I hope. Otherwise, expect no mercy." X shrugged.

"Oh, it fits the bill." He shut his eyes and a thin micro-rang appeared in his hands. The molecular arrangers in his X-Buster design allowed him to create a Boomerang Cutter from thin air, using the molecules of hydrogen and dust. It would work quite well, but then X would need to form another. The bonds would only last so long in the makeshift piece of weaponry, but until it lost power, it was deadly. X carefully gripped the metallic 'rang in his hand with a defensive pose and glared over at Sting.

"Whenever you're ready, maverick. I'll be waiting for your move." Sting rolled his eyeball and slammed his mitts together. Then he bowed to X and jumped for the roof, his massive good leg stopping the jump as he twisted his head downwards. He then dropped a bit before his tail caught hold of the wall, and his momentum dropped his body in a swinging arc. At the right moment, Sting opened his mouth and flicked his tongue out in a powerful strike. X sidestepped the blow and hurled his 'rang straight for Sting. But the green maverick saw it coming and swung aside, letting it pass him by. Then he swung back down and grinned at X, waving his right pincer in a left-right motion.

"Aww aww aww. Nice shot, but youoooOOOAAAAIIIIII!" Sting's sentence was interrupted as the 'rang completed its return loop, slicing cleanly through the wrist joint of Sting's waving hand. The now decapitated limb fell to the ground with a dull thud, while a good deal of reploid blood poured from the wound until automatic pressure valves in Sting's arm shut off blood to the wound. Sting howled angrily in pain, clutching the stump of his once mighty fist. But then the screams stopped and Sting made it all too clear to X with a powerful glare he would show no mercy. The placid techniques of Sting's personality had vanished in an instant, and now X looked on in confusion as to what Sting was doing.

It was as if all of a sudden, the old Sting had vanished, leaving a powerful and deadly warrior so enraged that his entire body would frighten a man. He was an empty shell, a shell which wanted so dearly to punt kick X's head off of his shoulders. X shuddered for a moment at the sight, but calmed down and drew another blade from the air. He was doing all right, and now Sting was down an arm. Hoping for the best, X pulled out another blade so he held one in each hand. He would need all the power he could afford for this. A wild animal craziness it seemed had possessed Sting, and wounded trapped animals were unpredictable and deadly to the extreme.

Sting swooped down, tucking all his limbs inwards to prevent X another easy hit, curling into a spiked ball of metal and rolling along the floor. X threw one blade at the ball, but it bounced off the hard surface and slammed into the ceiling before dissolving some seconds later. X jumped the rolling attack and peered up at his wasted blade. But it gave him an idea, a strategy that even Sting would be proud to have created.

When Sting finished with his attack, the maverick sent a triad green blast towards X before climbing onto the wall again, biding his time with another second blast. X dodged the first salvo, but the second was perfectly primed. X cursed and threw his second blade, quick to soon have another pair in his hands milliseconds afterwards. Sting dodged the speedy blade and dropped onto the floor, charging like a bull at X with a powerful roar. But X dashed towards Sting with his own ferocity, throwing a blade at the nimble warrior. Sting easily dodged it, and even jumped up to cleanly leap over the returning blade. But even as he swung around his stump for a massive blunt punch towards X, the crafty Hunter had snuck underneath the arcing limb and with his second blade made a ferocious slice along the tender belly of the maverick.

As the first blade buried itself in the wall, Sting grunted in surprise as a searing fire skewered along his torso, sending a spray of blood into the air. Stunned by the move, Sting was unable to respond as X then shoved his body upwards in a massive uppercut, slamming the maverick clean off the ground by several inches, and then another terrifyingly powerful swipe of the 'rang along Sting's legs. Sting hung in the air, his body still shaken by the powerful combo when X, now totally pumped up by his system's energy did a backflip, kicking Sting forwards in the beginning, and upon landing dashing forth again. 

In a final swift one-two, X sliced Sting's tail clean off and gut-rammed the maverick into the wall. The blow would not have been as damaging, except for one tiny detail that X had planned mere moments before.

The Boomerang Cutter Sting had evaded in X's throw was firmly embedded in the wall, and when X slammed Sting into the rough concrete, the maverick was impaled upon the blade. 

It vanished moments later into molecular dust, but the heavy damage had been done. Sting had lost a hand, his tail, and had severe cuts in his torso and legs, as well as a destroyed kneecap. His eyes glazed over in pain, and he groaned softly, finally coming back to his senses. X backed up from the mortally wounded reploid and glared at him.

"You're finished Sting." Sting looked up at X, but not with hatred or bitterness. In his last moments of death, he looked upon X with smiling eyes.

"Now you are a true warrior, X. You have overcome a powerful foe with strategy and honor. If you are to remain on your path, remember that lesson. Finesse is key to all." Sting weakly lifted his left hand and pointed at his severed tail.

"X, you have earned my weapon, perhaps more so than any other's. My weapon is in the tail. Take it now." X shook his head sadly, looking upon the now soft-spoken and dying reploid.

"Sting, it didn't have to be like this!" Sting trembled softly, in what might have been a laugh.

"X, I am a warrior. A warrior desires nothing less than a great duel for his death. But now I must move on to the next level. The Samurai have a tradition. When their honor is gone, they commit suicide. Storm had the respect in that tradition to take his life. I will do no less." Sting shook his head sadly, and X jumped forth, a horrified look on his face.

"No! Sting, don't do it!" Sting laughed loudly now, before he exposed his vital circuitry, his microfusion generator and set it to overload. He waved at X one last time.

"X, I have no other choice. I can only die; but at least I die knowing I did so at an honorable foe's hands. Sigma would have destroyed me anyway, but it seems the tables have turned. It is now your task to destroy HIM." 

With those last sage words, Sting vanished in nuclear fire. The flash was brilliant, and when it had ended it left only a disturbed X behind in its wake.

An X, who even though he had done what it seemed was his destiny, felt so confused and alone once more. With a sigh, he looked down at the tail, and picked it up.

The Chameleon Sting became his, but X shook his head. He needed some time to think about this; to digest recent events and cope with his newfound emotional problems, and come out of it stronger than before. He had very few places he could go to be alone, but he knew of one place which might be that way;

The abandoned mines where Armored Armadillo had been.

When he got there, it seemed like Sigma had sent some sophisticated drones to do some last-minute mining for raw materials, because the place was bustling like he'd never gone through and eliminated them. Of course, the fact that X had left a few Batton Bones active in the upper region might have done something for that as well.

"Looks like this is one shipment that Sigma won't be getting today." X grumbled as he blasted away an entire row of Battons with a single plasma blast. 

He'd muddled through virtually the entire complex in minutes, already familiar with the layout and equipped with more power than he'd had the first time around. The smell of dirt in the air and the solitude of the mine was invigorating, and gave him more than enough time to reexamine his status as a Hunter.

As he reached the final mine cart which served as his wild ride to the open skies and Arm's now abandoned lair, he noticed something very odd; he'd managed to fill up all his Sub-Tanks, as well as keep his stamina at full health. A very admirable accomplishment in X's mind, considering his current state.

"A time before I feared this cart." X shook his head and began to charge his Buster, knowing Battons would be close by. "Now I fear nothing." 

X took the plunge, blasting away the last of the Battons, the cart piledriving through the final row of Dig Labours, and the wind whipping in his face. The sun blinded him as he shot out of the tunnel, but his optics adjusted in time. X saw the ledge approaching, and knew if he jumped soon enough, he could make the upper ledge for a final energy pellet.

The leap took him there, but when he climbed above something surprised him; Yet another of Doctor Light's capsules was on the ledge as well, the remains of its burrowing evident. X shook his head happily. These capsules always picked a secluded spot away from enemies, and within his abilities to reach. The solid door opened and the holographic image of Light appeared.

"What the?!" X exclaimed. Doctor Light was not in his usual white lab coat and tan pants, but rather a cloth garment befitting one that went to karate classes. The odd garb made X waver off balance. But it was Light, no doubt about it. The doctor smiled oddly, his red bandanna around his head waving in the holographic breeze.

"I give you a special present, X! This will help you considerably with your foes, so stop being a doof and get in! Enter the capsule, please!" The message was short, but Light's mood was ecstatic, which X took to mean that this capsule had something really good, so good in fact Light spent more time working out the kinks in the design, and less with the message.

When he stepped out of the capsule moments later, he tested his new ability, forming the energy ball in his hands and chucking it out into the empty sky.

"Hadouken!" X yelped childishly. He giddily chuckled at his newfound gift, and the implications were profound. The 'Hadouken' was in fact the most powerful weapon X possessed now. When he was at full energy, he could use some of his reactor's excess power and concentrate it into his hands, focusing it more and more until within less than a second it was extremely powerful. He could hold it in his hands with ease, with Light's design in place. Then when he was ready, all he needed to do was give it a shove with his mitts and it would go flying. And when it did; something would go boom. 

It's incredible power would melt through any armor, and then conveniently deposit itself in the power matrix of whoever was on the receiving end. When that happened, no matter what got hit, the power systems would overload and the whole thing would explode with a great flourish.

Sting may have proved to X that finesse and style could often get the better of an opponent. But looking at his newest toy, X grinned widely.

There was something to be said for almost unstoppable power as well. 

Just then, his comm went off in a loud chirp. He flipped it on and looked into the viewscreen. It was Zero.

"Zero, buddy! Wassup?" Zero gave him a look of pure devilish joy.

"We've managed to locate Sigma's hidden fortress! It's up in a corner of Hokkaido, overlooking the ocean." X whistled.

"Damn! Never would have thought to look there." Zero shrugged.

"None of us would. But now we have to go stop him. You with me, X?" X nodded.

"Yeah, Sting's fried, and I got two new toys to play with." Zero raised his left eyebrow.

"TWO?" X chuckled.

"I took out some more mining drones in Arm's place. And one of Light's capsules showed up as well." Zero twisted his mouth in a half smile.

"I should be jealous. Report back to base, X. We have to get stocked up for 'bar huntin'!" X clicked the comm off. He shook his head and gave a final pat to the side of the capsule before it dug back underground and vanished.

"On my way, Zero. On my way."

X turned into a bright beam of light, and warped out. But the last thought on his mind was a goodie.

At last, he would stop Sigma. And then everyone who had died during this could rest peacefully.


	15. Siege To Sigma's Lair

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

****

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: SIEGE TO SIGMA'S FLYING FORTRESS

"You all set, X?" X looked up from the newest global scans of the focal point of Hokkaido; Sigma's fortress, embedded in the rocks of a high mountain cliff overlooking the ocean. It looked ominous, and prepared for any attack that might befall it. Guns bristled from the top, ready to shoot out any attacking aircraft that would dare make a flyby, and a thick defense shield as well. It would prevent even a nuclear strike from causing damage, much the same way any energy shield would in this day and age of 21XX.

It had been a long month for X, a month in which his life had taken a complete reversal. Cain had gone cripple, finally with a use for his walking stick. Zero had become the leader of the Hunters; X had become a Hunter and taken out 8 dangerous plots and foes; All the hunters save Zero and X had been destroyed in a fierce blitzkrieg by Boomer's forces…and now Sigma was uncovered.

The last vestiges of X's old life had been swept under the door, the cheerful reploid gone to be replaced by a Hunter, with a Hunter's weapons and abilities granted by Light. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, but at the same time it needed to be done.

The person who had asked him the question was Zero, making last minute checks on his Buster and his other systems, making sure they were running at maximum efficiency. He seemed as worried as X, but a bit calmer about it. X shook off the nagging voice in his head that screamed of his lack of ability.

"Zero, aside from some lingering doubts about my abilities, I'm fine. Arm's old mine gave me a full recharge, and plenty to spare." Zero nodded, his smile vanishing in consternation. He could feel his own doubts rising within himself, but he forced them down. A leader's first concern was his men, and the only guy Zero had to worry about was X, who had proven himself to be just as good as any, perhaps even better.

Zero coughed. "X, I can understand why you'd be concerned. But if you let that doubt and fear of failure override the mission, there will be no doubt in the truth that YOU WILL LOSE. It's as simple as that. If you BELIEVE; then you stand a chance. And a chance often decides who lives and who dies in this day and age." 

X looked up at Zero, who was smiling lightly. X raised his eyebrows and gave a quizzical smile to his commander.

"What are you grinning at, you ghost?" X's reference to an old Kevin Costner movie was blatantly obvious, and Zero snickered.

"Nothing much, X. I just realized that in your career, you've had enough luck to go from here to the moon. That in itself should keep you in fine condition." X harrumphed and shook his head.

"You jealous?" Zero nodded ever so slightly.

"Just a bit. Can I borrow some of your luck?" X let a thought flash in his brain, and he chuckled.

"I don't know, Zero. You might catch something in the process. No telling where I've been!" Zero chortled and slapped X across the back.

"Keep making comments like that and you'll be a fine example of a Hunter in no time." Just then Cain rapped loudly on the sick bay door. He poked his wizened head inside and frowned.

"You two gonna go save the world already, or wait until Sigma blows us all to hell and completes his human genocide?" X and Zero looked at Cain, then looked at each other and blew out laughing, a gut hurling, belly-slapping roll-on the floor double decker load of laughing that made Cain stumble backwards a few steps.

"What the devil are you guys laughing at?" Cain said, trying not to let the shocked look of confusion on his face drain into his tone. But the look caused X and Zero to only laugh louder, the bellowing beginning anew.

Finally Hazil rolled over with his syringe of reploid anesthetic, a substance which blocked the energy carrying capacity of a reploid's bloodstream, simulating a normal anesthetic's ability to shut down your body's unnecessary functions. Zero waved his mitt at the medical grump and finally stopped sniggering.

"It's all right, Hazil. Cain just walked in at a funny moment, and did a little twist of irony on us." Cain stroked his chin.

"Which would be what? All I said was were you going to wait around until Sigma completed human genocide?" X chuckled and wiped the tears from his face.

"The both of us as reploids are a little more objective about it than you would be. So, we naturally had to think, what would the world be like without Cain?" Cain frowned.

"Suspicious behavior, you two. Are you going maverick as well?" Zero shook his head.

"Hell no, Cain. You know we love ya too much to see you bite the big one too early. But you gotta admit from a reploid's view, it was funny as all getup." Cain harrumphed.

"Whatever. Just do your job, okay? This is one thing I'd like to put behind me as the head of this reploid enforcement agency." X and Zero finally sighed, releasing the last vibrations of happiness from their bodies. From here on out, they could only be serious.

Any mistake would be fatal in Sigma's lair.

"Sir, the MHHQ intercepted our signal to Sting hours ago." Vile said calmly to a weary Sigma, whose pet dog growled beside him at the bearer of bad news. "No doubt because we have heard nothing from Sting, we can safely assume Zero and his friend X have taken out our last operation." Sigma looked up, a sadistic smile on his face.

"Tell me, did any of your reports indicate our smaller operation at Arm's old mine had been destroyed as well?" Vile's shoulders went back, the most obvious sign of emotion in his covered body.

"I didn't pick that up! I didn't even know about it. Sigma, are you-"

"Vile, let's just say there are some things I'd like to keep to myself." Sigma snapped. Vile straightened up and gave a brief nod. Vile understood all too well how important it was to keep to yourself at times. But something this big; it wasn't the brightest idea Sigma had ever had to keep Vile in the dark.

"In the meantime Vile, what do we have in the way of defensive measures once Zero and X show up here?" Vile raised his hand and clicked a button beside Sigma's chair.

"First off, we have the three castle guardians; Bospider, Rangda Bangda, and D-Rex. I'll be patrolling the first level of the base during the assault, with my spiffy 'mech close by, and you'll be heading things up here with your pet and the giant robot. Remember, it draws in its stabilization energy from the main systems. If it goes up, the whole bloody base does as well. I've also included a last-ditch program into it as well." Sigma raised his eyes, stretching the tear marks he had kept from his battle with Zero so long ago.

"Really? What's that?" Vile chuckled.

"I have my secrets too, boss. Needless to say, if they manage to obliterate you, it ain't the end of the world for your reploid mind." Sigma mused over that, wondering if he should threaten Vile with deep saber wounds to make him tell more. It certainly did seem to fit the blaring program in his head. But he blocked it out. He was still stronger than it; he hoped.

"I'll take your word on that, Vile. Are the ground patrol units out and running?" Vile clicked a button on the side of his helmet, a computer display running over the inside of his helmet. Satisfied, he clicked it off again.

"As ordered. Hortoise Tortoises and too many flying drones to shake a stick at." Sigma sighed.

"Small miracles do happen, then."

"Rarely, Sigma. Rarely." But then a blaring klaxon stopped Vile from saying anymore. Sigma looked up, a look of calm on his face.

"They're here. Vile, get to your post." Vile raised a finger.

"One last thing, Sigma-" Vile reached down next to Sigma's chair and punched in a sequence of random numbers. But Sigma noticed then Vile seemed to know what he was doing. They all flashed a satisfying green, and Vile stepped back. The entire complex shook roughly for a few moments, and then ceased. Velguarder got up, sniffing about uneasily at last. Sigma looked down at his pet. What had surprised the calm dog of death so much?

"What was that, Vile?" Vile flashed a thumbs up, letting his eyes glow red for a brief moment.

"Sigma, that's yet another added bonus in the hidden base deluxe package. I also gave it the ability to go airborne. Those Hunters should have a bloody tough time getting to us now!" Sigma smiled widely at the brilliant thinking of his chief architect. He waved his hand lazily, and Vile ran out of the lair and down the long hidden stairway to the first level. Sigma turned his attentions to the defensive monitor. All were flashing green, indicating no units had been taken out. Sigma smiled again.

Things looked pretty bright for the moment. But as he let his smile become his constant stare of solemnity, he remembered just how wild the odds had fluctuated against them. No matter how small it was, there was a chance.

He was hoping the Hunters didn't find it.

Along the edge of Hokkaido, the flashing lights of weapons sheds blinked in the darkness, the dimming purple pink sky a twisted representation of what life had become; surreal as a wonderland of death and destruction. Hover drones flew about in a steady search pattern, and Hortoise Tortoises scanned the horizon for foes.

Finally, a pair of warp beams shattered down from the starry sky and reformed into X and Zero. They blinked and then looked forward in disbelief; Sigma's fortress was flying!

"I don't like that one bit, man!" Zero muttered anxiously, holding down his charge for maximum power. X nodded and began to charge his own.

"Mebbe it had gas." Zero frowned.

"Not now, X." He turned around to face X directly. "X, I'll go out ahead and keep the main defense force busy. You sneak in and get to Sigma!" X nodded once in agreement, and then Zero blasted ahead towards the floating behemoth. How he'd get up there, X didn't rightly know. But hey, that was what the guy got paid for. Some of the drones took off towards Zero, but some still stayed. X frowned. 

That was smart of Sigma, but it meant bad news for him. Shaking his head, he moved on his own course. The attack plan would take the both of them to succeed, and X wouldn't fail on his part. Of course, his was the easier part. Zero would have to deal with most of what was thrown at them, going head on.

"Times like these I think Zero wishes he had a saber like Sigma." X mused quietly, remembering how Zero had spoken to X shortly after they had taken out Boomer Kuwanger's tower stronghold. The memories were so thick from that short time ago, he could still see Zero leaning against the wall of the reconstructed sick bay.

"X, there's one reason why Sigma is such a powerful Hunter." Zero had said. "That reason is because he's got a saber." X had blinked in surprise.

"What, the big green thing that looks like it came from Star Wars?" Zero chuckled.

"Nah. A lightsaber supposedly works by directing the energies from a power cell through a natural crystal so it bends and forms a solid blade of powerful encased energy. Our own technology has a while to go before it reaches that point. But sabers are a new advancement, and they're powerful. You know plasma, right?" X scoffed then.

"Duh. It's only the most fundamental part of a Buster's function." Zero had frowned at that.

"Don't get snappy, X. I'm still your commander. Anyhoo, a beam saber uses an electromagnetic field to encase the plasma gas, keeping its shape as a sword of light and energy. When you cut something with the saber, the plasma basically eats through whatever it cuts. Even if it is short range only, X; a beam saber is a force to be reckoned with." X smiled.

"Wish you had one?" Zero had smiled.

"No kidding. Remind yourself, that's my Christmas present."

X shook his head and cleared it. "Gotta keep focused on the here and now, chum." X stopped a few yards short of the Hortoise Tortoise in front of him and stopped. He drew his hands back and then threw a Hadouken blast at the missile launching drone. It blew apart with a satisfying rumble, leaving the ground charred and strewn with wreckage. X smiled.

"Zero, I think you'd rather have this."

At the moment, Zero would have appreciated anything more powerful than what he had, which was his Buster. After making an insane jump through thin air and barely managing to clutch a handhold on the flying rubble, he clambered up the side and prepared to face the enemies on the top of the tower. Sigma's main defense force was just that; an overwhelming obstacle course of maverick controlled 'mechs, Bee Bladers in tandem, and so many flying drones and ground based cannons it was overkill.

"CrapnabbitsonofafracshiiiCRUD!" Zero screamed. So intense was the danger around him he could not even finish one curse before starting on the next. He jumped a hoverdrone and smashed it to the ground with his boot, and then aimed at the Bee Blader above. The massive attack juggernaut targeted the Crimson Hunter and began to spit out angry red licks of depleted uranium slugs at the target. Zero dashed to the side to avoid, but saw the second Blader already locking on with his missiles. "Man, this is not good!" Zero groaned. In an act of pure desperation, he jumped towards the first Blader again, letting the second continue the bead. Then he jumped out of the way as the two targeted each other, and then let their savage attacks annihilate the both of them.

But even as the explosions of the Bladers were starting to build, a 'mech was racing towards him with a maverick reploid at the controls. Zero grimaced and leapt into the air, letting the 'mech slide underneath him before he dropped down and grabbed the maverick by the shoulder blades, throwing the pilot out. The maverick screamed as he flew out of the cockpit and plowed into the ground, and as he landed Zero was closing the bubble canopy above him.

"Stinkin' rookies. Don't they know you have to close the top to have it do any good for you?" Zero muttered. He breathed a bit easier with the 'mech at his command, smashing through the other three 'mechs with ease and pounding the final Blader into submission. At last, the area around him was empty. Zero sighed in relief, scanning the area around him for vital controls to smash.

But one caught his eye; "Hoverplatforms? What the frack wuz Sigma thinkin?" Zero grumbled as he hopped out of the 'mech and walked over to the console. The cool night breeze blew his blond ponytail back as he pounded a few buttons on the device, and the full moon lit up his entire body.

With a satisfying clunk, the console flashed green. Zero smiled. He'd made X's life a little easier, at least. Now the upgraded Hunter would have an easier time making it to the ever vanishing fortress with the hoverplatforms providing a system of transport to a hidden side entrance of the fortress.

"X, you owe me big for this one." Zero heckled as he walked back to the vacant 'mech. "For I have mavericks to destroy before I sleep."

If X would have had the time to thank his friend, he would have. As it was, X faced perhaps less peril than his trigger happy comrade, but nonetheless a devastating amount. A Hortoise Tortoise early on had managed to nick him with a lucky shot, one that had cost X the ability to unleash the Hadouken until he was at full vitality again. But X found that the Fire Wave worked just as well, perhaps even better for the moment. There was no pause time in his ability to use it, it just fired. That meant instant gratification when their armor melted away, and their vital circuitry shorted out in a fiery sputter of death, triggering the explosions that turned the once mighty juggernaut into a pile of smoking metal. X stopped and looked around him;

There were no more Tortoises for him to take on. He looked up, to see the flying fortress moving farther away from him. All his euphoria began to drop in stunned disbelief, for now he was stuck here and Sigma had escaped.

That's when he noticed a series of green platforms flying out of a side entrance in the fortress, and floating downwards making a series of moving steps. It seemed someone had sent out platforms to allow him to make it to the fortress. And in a flash of gratitude, X smiled.

"Zero." It seemed the Crimson Hunter had come through once more with the impossible task, allowing X the ability to make it after all. Unfortunately, hoverdrones made their presence known among the hoverplatforms as well. X checked his energy meter; 93% health, 74% Fire Wave.

"Dang!" X grumbled. "Oh well, not like it'd do me much good up there." X sighed and switched back to his Buster. Those drones would be a major problem. Making the jumps up the moving steps would be hard enough, but with buggers in the air that would knock him off of them, he'd be dead in an instant. For all his technology, X knew he wouldn't do too well falling off the high perch and crashing into the water and rocky shoals below. But X never ran out of ideas-or weapons, either. 

He switched to the Rolling Shield, charging it up. When it reached full capacity, he released the trigger. Instead of a ball of energy that rolled along the ground, the energy crept out of his Buster like honey and surrounded him in a meshing of protective energy. X sighed a bit easier. "Hoverdrones may be fast and dangerous, but they can't take much abuse." The Rolling Shield would keep him covered for the time. He made his first jump, trying to ignore the empty space beneath him as he leapt from solid ground to the first platform. He arrived with a thud, and his wobbly legs managed to hold onto the grip. X sighed in relief and looked around him.

"First one down. About another five hundred to go." X grumbled, exaggerating the number. It was pretty quiet as the platform moved forward, getting within range of another moving green lift. At least, it was quiet until a slight kaboom shuddered through his shield. X swiveled his head to see the fried remains of a hoverdrone flailing downwards in a terrifying arc, and a small dent in his Rolling Shield that soon expanded and became normal. He smiled for a moment as he checked his energy. "Hmm. Still the same. Two notches less." He knew the science behind it.

As long the blow did not fully overwhelm the Rolling Shield, it would draw in its regenerative powers from his core energy, leaving the Rolling Shield energy alone until it would be used again. The downside to the shield was he could not fire a weapon of any kind while he was inside of it. 

"Forgetting the fact I hate having to shoot anything." X sighed. He jumped off his platform and onto the next.

The cycle continued for what seemed like an eternity, the platforms keeping in perfect synch with the ever-seagoing fortress. And X always made the leap, for any less meant certain death, and the drones would always burst into slag at contact with his barrier.

And at long last, X made the final jump into the maintenance port that his platforms had emerged from. Two turn cannons activated instantly at his step, and X slammed his shield into the one stuck to the ground. The barrier finally sputtered out of existence and X took out the top one with a well placed Rolling Shield shot. He checked around himself for any other enemies, but it was barren. His sensitive hearing could pick up the droning of more foes ahead, but behind him and in his general area was quiet.

X had finally infiltrated Sigma's fortress. And like the grain of sand that causes a clam to make a pearl, the maverick threat had also caused X to be transfigured into a hero. He checked his energy meter and smiled.

"Not bad." It wasn't full health, but very close. He was doing incredibly well for the threat.

But this was a minor threat he had faced so far. X couldn't help but wonder what Zero was putting up with.

If X would have traded places with the Crimson Hunter at that very moment, he would have been obliterated.

Zero had blasted the top off of a ventilation shaft, taking a slip jump that twisted his body into an odd contortion. The reason for the jump was pretty obvious to anyone watching; it was needed to dodge the three incoming missiles from the launchers. Each spiraled toward him, each missing by the narrowest of margins as they continued on their arcs, slamming into the hordes of security devices that were also firing at him.

Taking a cue from the interim, Zero wasted no time in slipping down the exhaust pipe, firing several shots directly upwards to discourage any mavericks that might have tried to follow him. As he continued to fall, he could hear one scream in pain as they were blasted from the chute's opening. He had to smile at that.

"Nice try, maverick. But I'm still one step ahead of all of you!" Zero finally found the bottom to his ventilation shaft, slamming hard. His systems absorbed the shock with little notice, but his bootprints were firmly planted in the metal. 

With his reploid adrenaline, or what was closest to it in a way, Zero turned at lightning speed with his Buster leveled. It worked, for a surprised maverick in full body armor raised a smaller laser blaster. Zero took him out with little notice, and found the rest of the area barren of foes. Zero sighed in relief and took stock of it all.

"Ten minutes in this place and still no end in sight." Zero looked down to the now smoking crumpled metal of his maverick foe. The laser blaster in his hand was a dangerous tool. Less reliable than a Buster, it could only be used once before it needed a recharge. The upside to the laser was because of its advances, it could burn through almost anything. Thankfully, no way had been found to make the laser a reusable weapon, or the defensive technology wouldn't be able to catch up. Zero kicked the weapon away, just to make sure any final jerks of the now fizzled servos wouldn't activate the device.

"Too bad you were on the wrong side, brutha." Zero muttered. "I had to put the smack down on you all." He shook his head. "Watch it, Zero. Too many old gangsta rap tunes in your head." 

With the all clear set, Zero moved on ahead. But a noise stopped him dead. He leaned up against the wall, squirming into the shadows, trying to hide himself as best he could.

The figure who was clomping down the halls came into view, sweeping his head from side to side in a careful manner so he could see through his helmet. His hands were loose and relaxed, but the cannon on his shoulder was prepped and raised. Zero hid in the shadows even more, hoping that Vile wouldn't see him. 

At last, Vile passed him, and Zero grinned widely. Now he had the element of surprise on his side. Silently he eased out of the niche and raised his Buster up. Hoping to add confusion to Vile's day, Zero blasted a shot to the side of Vile, causing a pipe to rupture at the blow. 

Vile jumped upwards as Zero had planned, but didn't turn around to see who had fired it. He ran, because he knew by the shot's power who was wielding the weapon; Zero.

"Crap!" Zero muttered angrily, dashing after the maverick. If Vile got away-

Well, needless to say then their operation would be pretty much botched.

X was making his own way through the fortress, climbing up the service ladders and blowing away the few final Ball De Vouxs in his way. Then, a row of nothing. But he took the chance and charged his Buster again.

Climbing up the final ladder, X thought he heard something falling from above. He took his stance on the platform and turned about-

And was surprised to see Vile falling from below. The maverick was equally disturbed at the sight of him.

"X! Crap, now the both of them are on my tail!" X blinked.

"Both?!" The answer to that question came suddenly as Zero warped down from his position above. He didn't turn to face X, but his shout echoed backwards easily.

"X, stay back! I'll take him on." Vile took his chance and ran through the rotating door close by. Zero followed, getting through before it slammed shut. A surprised X looked down, and then shook his head.

"Easy, X. Zero's on the job." But Zero might need his help. X kept holding the charge on his shot, and then dashed through the door as well. It took him to a mini-room, where the noises from the passageway next was.

The whine of a Buster being charged, then released. The smack of metal meeting metal. A cry of pain-the slamming of heavy hydraulic legs-and the hum of a force field being activated.

"What the-" X grunted in surprise. Something had happened which had ended the battle rather quickly. And the knot in his stomach told him it wasn't good.

He clambered his way up to the final door and through it. Falling down and landing on the floor, he noticed this room was a bit wider than usual. And the reason for it stood tall and menacing on the other side of the room. X's eyes widened in surprise as he saw the aftermath of the quick fight.

Zero was caged inside a restraining cell, crouching to avoid the energy bars. And a smug Vile was at the controls of his super 'mech once more. The same mech that X had lost to on the night so long ago: Now it was back, and it seemed to be more menacing than ever. Vile laughed happily at the sight of X.

"Stay where you are X, or Zero's history!" Vile motioned a massive 'mech arm at the cell, where Zero spat angrily and burned holes into Vile's visor.

"Don't listen to him, X! Take him out now!" Vile chuckled even more at that.

"Dream on, Zero! X knows he can't defeat me. My armor 'mech is more than a match for his ancient weapons!"

In that single sentence, the horrible revelation dawned on X.

He would lose.

That's not to say he put up a good fight; X did his very best, striking with everything he had. From a massive purple plasma blast to the venerable Fire Wave, nothing seemed to penetrate the thick armored carrier's hide. Nothing.

And as X became weary, he dodged less and less blows. Zero's mood turned from foul to fear, and Vile became even more confident.

At long last, Vile opened his bubble cockpit and released a paralyzing blast from his shoulder cannon. A broken and tattered X took the shot full force, and the horrifying memories of Tokyo park came back to him.

Zero had been there to save him then.

But now Zero was trapped as well. X crumpled to his knees as the surging power raged through him. Vile's eyes flashed a brilliant red as he walked over and placed X far away from him. Even with the pain in his mind, X knew what the maverick was going to do.

He was going to make a huge thrust and slam X against the wall, crushing every circuit and microservo in his body. Vile cracked his knuckles and shook his head.

"Say goodnight, Hunter." Vile's arms came to rest on the controls once more. "You will lose this day-and pay the penalty for destroying my comrades." X shook his head sadly, trying to force the tears of angry defeat backwards. If he only had more time, he could take his new armor enhancement and channel the paralyzing energy into usable life energy. But time was one thing he did not have. Silently, he bowed his head and shut his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Zero. I failed." X said quietly. Time seemed to slow down at that moment-

Until a loud scream of fury rampaged through the room. X opened his eyes and slowly turned his head upwards, to see the reason for the cry.

Zero had smashed through the paralyzing bars and destroyed his prison, and now he had leapt onto the top of the 'mech itself. 

"What the he-" Vile began, turning around. Zero threw a powerful punch at the maverick, decking him aside for a moment. 

"Perhaps you will win, Vile-BUT I'M NOT THROUGH YET!" Zero raised his arms, forming both of them into powerful Busters. X gasped at the sight, for he knew all too well what it meant;

The funny thing about Busters is this; you can't use both at once. To do so overloads the plasmic barriers and unleashes their savage unfocused fury on whatever may be close-which usually includes the reploid stupid enough to try to the move.

"Zero! NO!" X screamed. But Zero didn't listen. He jammed both Busters deep into the cockpit of the machine and began to charge. The distinctive whine was followed by smoke and explosions, as the plasma overload took Vile's 'mech with it, eating away at the power balancing circuitry until it also began to explode. A bright flash enveloped the room, a blossom of fiery death and balancing escape.

And when the light cleared, Zero was gone. So was the 'mech. But Vile and X were still there. X gritted his teeth angrily, his tears finally beginning to spring forth uncontrollably. Zero had sacrificed himself to allow X a chance. 

"Goddamnit, Zero! Why'd you have to go and do that?" X screamed angrily. He finally took his time, beginning to let Vile's energy shot convert to life energy as the maverick brushed the dust of the explosion off himself.

"Curse that Hunter! I loved that 'mech." Vile shook his head. "What a useless gesture! I cannot be defeated so easily!" X gritted his teeth.

"Your life ends now, you monster." Finally, the energy conversion finished and flowed into his body. His energy meter filled up completely, and the last few sparks flew off his body. Vile stumbled back in shock at the display.

"What the!" Vile stopped and smirked. "It doesn't matter how much energy you absorb, X. You'll never be a match for me!" But X didn't listen. His hatred of Vile had now swelled up to an unbearable level. He was at full health, and he would use all his power to send the accursed maverick where he should have been born.

Oblivion.

Vile made a huge leap over X, preparing to fire a shot in his back before the Hunter came to his senses. But it was all slow motion for X as he swiveled, tracking Vile's every inch and forming a ball of energy in his hands. When he gauged where Vile would land, he shut his eyes and screamed the angriest cry he could muster, finishing the Hadouken and flinging it along a parallel to the ground.

Vile had barely hit the ground when the energy blast hit him. And even though it was smaller than the massive plasma blasts from X's Buster, it did far worse;

The energy instantly overloaded Vile's fusion generator, sending the reaction into critical and over within microseconds. Vile didn't even have the time to scream as he was torn apart by the angry flash of nuclear fire within his belly, blown apart and vaporized so all that was left of him was his upper body and an arm, which flew high up, slammed into the ceiling and fell at a steep angle in a surreal slow motion before finally thudding to the ground and no longer moving.

And then X breathed. He opened his eyes, and turned to face where he had first seen Vile. But now he saw a sight far worse.

His Commander, his partner-His friend-Zero was now nothing more than a ruined upper body framework, bleeding, not moving and not groaning. X screamed in shock and dashed over as fast as he could muster. He knelt down, holding what was left of Zero up so he could speak. 

Through a bleeding mouth and crackling, dying servomotors, Zero blearily focused on X, unable to manage the smallest of smiles.

"Vile-gone?" X sniffled.

"Yes. But you-" Zero coughed abruptly, sending a spurt of blood onto X's blackened armor.

"X, I've taken far too much damage. Auto repair systems can't-handle it." Zero shut his eyes at long last. X pulled him closer, his hot tears falling onto the dying form of his friend.

"No, Zero! You can't die on me! I'll get you back to Cain-he can fix you up!" Zero jarred his eyes open, with a burning fire that signaled the last embers of his life.

"NO! Not-not enough time, X. I'm too far gone now. But you-You are stronger than I thought. Maybe you can destroy Sigma. You must X-the world depends on you now." Zero shut his eyes, and sighed a long and painful sigh, until at last his head fell back limply. X's eyes widened.

"Zero!" He shook his friend hard, but got no response. "ZERO!" 

At that point, X's world shattered. All the death and suffering he had seen combined in his gut as a massive roiling storm.

Cancer. Jim Dacker. His friends Boomer and Flame.

And now Zero. Damn the mavericks.

Damn Sigma.

"DAMN YOU, SIGMA!" X screamed, finally unleashing the fire in his body. His very frame seemed to blare angrily at the boiling cauldron within. He screamed, screamed long and screamed hard.

Screamed loud enough to be heard throughout the entire fortress.

Screamed louder than when Cancer had died in his arms.

X screamed his last scream in those final moments.

When he stopped, his frustration, his sadness, his melancholy ways had all vanished.

What X had been was now gone forever. The Hunter he thought he had become was nothing compared to now.

Now, like his brother Mega Man before him, X was something more.

X was the only chance for peace.

High above the first level, in the topmost spire of the flying fortress, a brooding Sigma sat in his chair. Velguarder paced the floor, switching between whining and growling at whatever was upsetting him. Sigma had no doubt his faithful pet had the same thing on his mind as his master did;

X.

The cameras in the first level didn't lie. X was strong, no doubt about it. He had managed to infiltrate through an air duct with the help of Zero, taking out the small resistance and then moving on.

Zero had done the unthinkable and broken the golden rule of Busters, and by doing so had eliminated Vile's 'mech. And then as he faded away, an enraged X had dispatched with Vile in one blow.

"One blow!" Sigma cursed. His brow wrinkled worriedly as he examined it again. "How did he obtain such power? What gave him such devastating might?" Sigma frowned and shook his head.

The X he had known in his Hunter days was gone. This new X was far too strong, light years beyond the whimpering fool that had almost succeeded in halting the Rogumer's escape on that Independence night of July 4th.

His new armor had given him incredible strength and speed, ample enough to worry Sigma himself. Sigma's Unit had been fearful because they worked as a team, all at once and never by themselves.

When Sigma had sent them off on their own missions, things had gone horribly wrong, and X had obliterated every one. 

Now with Vile gone, it was just him. Just him, his dog, the drones and the few remaining mavericks in the fortress.

The mavericks which would soon be dead. Sigma had no doubts in his wicked mind that X would not be stopped by much. Even the 'blanks' of Vile's design seemed destined to fail, as Boomer's blank had been eliminated as well shortly after Vile.

"This will not be easy-far from it." Sigma muttered to himself. He looked at Velguarder and whistled. The reploid dog looked up at its master expectantly, and Sigma lowered a pointed hand.

"The both of us will have to do our very best. Otherwise, we'll be dead." Velguarder's metallic hair bristled upwards as he bared his teeth and growled. Sigma nodded slowly.

Velguarder had no intention of letting X get the better of him. Sigma would do the same as his loyal pet.

But the odds were stacked against them now. It may not have seen like it by pure numbers, but emotion does many things to performance.

One Hunter. One goal. An incredible suit of seemingly everlasting power. And the anger and hatred of the mavericks to crush any that would stand before him. Sigma clicked on the footage of the first castle guardian's demise.

Bospider, a lightning quick drone with a chaotic attack pattern had been the first to stand in X's way. But X had blown him away with only a dozen blasts from Chill's Ice Shotgun, then glared angrily at the camera.

"You're next, Sigma." X had then blown the camera to atoms and moved on to the next area.

Sigma angrily punched the video clip off and slammed his chair. What angered him was not that X was trying to destroy all of them-

What angered him was the fact X could.


	16. The Forever Sigma

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

CHAPTER 15: THE FOREVER SIGMA

Fresh from the defeat of the powerful but predictable D-Rex BattleTank, a grimfaced X finished teleporting into the final level of Sigma's powerful Hovertfortress. Where he landed was narrow and quiet, without activity or foes. It was as if he was at the bottom of a very long shaft. X had no doubt that the elevator for this place had never been constructed.

Eight copies of the original mavericks he had faced before this blasted fortress had stood in his path, and each had been blasted aside like nothing as the determined X continued to run through the deadly maze of traps Sigma had laid. His armor, his weapons, everything he had was used to decimate all in his path of the ultimate goal:

The destruction of Sigma and the end of the Maverick Uprising.

The one thing that disturbed X of the entire layout of this place was the simplicity, as well as the holes in the pipe walls that he would have to climb.

He would have to face perils on his way up, and most likely they were a hidden trap for him. A quick look on his meters gave him all he needed to know; Full health, for once. Two full Sub-Tanks, and only his Boomerang Cutter energy had a dent in it. 

"Still not something I'd like to face Sigma with." X grimaced. He needed to grow stronger, to be able to run at full power in the last fight.

Suddenly, X realized what the holes in the wall piping was for. Green robotic caterpillars wormed their way out of the holes and down towards him. 

"Nuts." X frowned. Sigma would have made a few final setups for the wily Hunters. "And the pipes go all the way up." And then an idea hit him. "This could be used to my advantage." X switched to the Rolling Shield and began charging. The caterpillars were slow, and his Buster was faster. With a sigh of relief, the purple blue shield surrounded him in a comforting glow of protection, and X slammed into the closest one. It spat out a weapons recharge in despair, and the Rolling Shield was at full health. Another slam attack revealed a life energy capsule, and X nodded slowly.

This would work.

He hovered over the pipe openings, eliminating the robots as they emerged and taking their health as his own. It was an easy process, and most likely a tactic that the brooding Sigma would not have thought of.

With everything in his systems at full potential, X switched off the shield and quickly clambered the rest of the way up. A leap through the hole barely cleared him from the tunnel as a revolving gate slammed shut and prevented escape. A surprised but ready X stood ready to fire off a Hadouken blast in his own corner of the room, his optics and sound sensors scanning the room for the slightest hint of a foe.

And at last Sigma revealed himself. 

He jumped down from above, followed closely by his bane of a dog, Velguarder. The purple demon growled angrily and tried to leap at X, but a bark from Sigma brought the hound to a halt. X stared across, not moving but braced ready for a roomwide leap if necessary.

"Sigma." Sigma's frown was just as deep, if not darker.

"X." X raised a hand.

"You killed them all, Sigma. Jim Dacker, Cancer, all those Hunters and innocent people-And Zero as well. You killed them." Sigma crossed his arms and shrugged, his expression still poison.

"And you in turn have become what you hated most. A bloodthirsty, reploid killing 'savior of humanity.' Heh! X, the pure definition of a hippocrate is you. My actions will bring freedom and salvation to a superior race, the meshing of humanity and machinery in the greatest blend ever. All you have done is killed your friends who strived for that goal." X took the blow in stride, but paid no attention to it. His own blood screamed for vengeance for all the lost lives.

"Sigma, NO DREAM is worth the price that has been paid. You've corrupted yourself and corrupted the very objective you try to attain. Because of the bloodshed, humanity will always see us as tools of war and destruction. Light built me-BUILT REPLOIDS-because he dreamed of a world in which we could live in peace." X shook his head. "Now the ultimate price must be paid." Sigma nodded as well.

"Then it seems we are at last agreed upon one detail. One of us will not live from this encounter. And for all your enhancements my dear friend, you are still weak. I am the most advanced reploid there is, and you: you, X are not even a true reploid."

Sigma turned to pet Velguarder, who still bristled at the sight of X. "I'm surprised you made it this far, X. Zero certainly knew what he was doing. I would gladly kill you here and now-but I would not deprive my pet of that pleasure. If you survive this fight, then we will meet. Until then, X." Sigma issued the fateful command of attack to Velguarder, and then leapt high into the air, beyond the ceiling into a hidden room.

X had little time to pay attention to where Sigma had gone, for Velguarder had already bound towards his head. X ducked the attack, then turned in time to see the mobile critter come at him by a wall bounce. X dashed backwards, then turned and shut his eyes. Now, his Hadouken would be his salvation. But would it work?

The energy ball flew from his hands-

And slammed viciously into the metal mutt, still in midair. The once proud Treble, who had been found by Sigma and converted into Velguarder by Hazil and Sigma completed his last cycle of maintenance in that instant.

And all that had been from the past vanished in the white hot explosion that turned on itself.

The smoke cleared, and silence reigned once more. The ceiling opened up, and a foreboding Sigma dropped down. He paused by Velguarder's head, stooping down to pick it up. He held it aloft for a moment, and X saw the utter crackdown of a figure who had always been dark and angry.

In that moment, Sigma shed a tear. It shattered X, took away the hot anger and rage inside of him. He felt deflated, and at the same time, guilty for what he had done. Velguarder had never harmed anyone, not even during the breakout on June 4th. No, it had been Sigma and the Maverick Hunters who had done the killing. Velguarder was innocent-

And now Sigma had paid the price for putting the dog in X's path. Sigma's trembling hand grew strong, until it shattered the metal skull of Velguarder into scrap. Sigma threw the metal away from him and gritted his teeth at X.

"So you've done it. You have eliminated every one of us but me now. X, you should have joined us. Then, the suffering would not have been yours. Now, that has changed." Sigma pulled out his saber and lit the blade. "I'll see you beyond oblivion, X."

And Sigma charged.

The first saber strike sent Sigma flying across the room, with a massive yell that shook X to the core. X's face tightened in fear as the approaching behemoth of Sigma drew ever closer with the millisecond, powered by the dash thrusters in his boots. And he froze, just long enough to realize any movement by him would not be fast enough to fire back. X could do the only logical thing; avoid and counterstrike.

X jumped backwards up into the wall, took another leap upwards and narrowly managed to avoid the angry downswipe of Sigma's beam saber. Sigma's eyes flashed pure fire as he jumped up and took another hack-

But X was already flying across the chamber with a huge dash jump. Sigma harrumphed and nodded.

"You're a good Hunter X, almost as good as I was. But not good enough." Sigma's massive head was distinctive, lacking a helmet at all but still having a crystal control chip cover in it. And now, the crystal covering spouted angry fire bullets towards X.

X yelped and dropped down, avoiding the hail towards his position on the wall. The shots spattered out with a fizzle on the wall, leaving X unscathed for the moment. 

A burst from his X-Buster, charged to the green level did little to affect Sigma, who took the shot in the gut and coughed meekly. X gritted his teeth and shook his head.

Sigma definitely had the advantage in this fight. "Was that the best you could hit me with, X? If so, then you'd best pack up and wait for the transition to the afterlife."

X cursed and jumped up the wall again. Sigma chuckled softly and blasted off the ground in a straight arrow path for the fleeing prey. X turned about and saw him coming. He gritted his teeth and dropped down. Sigma saw him move, but was moving so fast he could not remaneuver. He was in effect, stuck on the path he traveled. X took the few milliseconds he had upon hitting the ground to carefully track Sigma's path and to look at his weapons array. Sigma was moving too blasted fast for his Hadouken to work, and Sigma knew how to defend against it by now anymore. Doubtful anything would affect him that much.

Sigma was a humanoid reploid. Different from reploids whose designs take on the shape of animals or other things, humanoid reploids do have one defining quality; they lack weaknesses. A powerful enough attack will harm them, but as far as hitting them with any special weapon, it usually does not do as good of a job as a simple plasma shot. Each of the mavericks under Sigma had had a weakness that X had used to defeat them, but Sigma was as versatile as X.

"And only one maverick gave me trouble with my enhancements; Spark Mandrill." X grumbled softly as he dashed to the side, avoiding the powerful downswipe the unpredictable Sigma tried to spear him with. That simple flash of a sentence woke him up: The Electric Spark!

It was wider than a plasma shot, just as fast, and it had really shocked it to X a lot. Perhaps it just might do the trick! X wasted little time in activating the secondary weapon and bringing it to bear. Leveling his left hand, he formed it into a Buster and fired off a haphazard blast. Sigma, who was still landing didn't manage to block with his saber fast enough, and the shot hit him in the stomach. Unlike the X-Buster, this one definetely hurt him.

Sigma seemed to tighten up all at once as his servos went haywire, curling him in as the electric bolt coursed through his body in a fiery river of pain. His mouth opened and he managed to emit a yelp of pain. A yelp which instilled new hope in X.

"So you DO have a weakness." X nodded, raising his Buster again and firing. But Sigma recovered from the subsiding effects and raised his saber, blocking the blast and cleaving it into two harmless bits of electrical gas that flew up into the walls and dissolved. Sigma's face still held pain, but his eyes burned intensely with fire.

"You have yet to defeat me, X. I am the only true Hunter, and because of that, I WILL WIN." Sigma charged at X full tilt, but X didn't run. For a brief moment, his eyes flashed angrily, and he braced his feet against the ground. Sigma's roar grew louder at his approach, his fury becoming hotter as the shock wore off. Sigma's angry green saber swung down in a vicious arc-

And X sidestepped the hack with a gentle nudge from his thrusters. Quickly, Sigma tried a horizontal swipe to catch X off guard, but it failed.

X's Buster had been ready at the downswing, and a new world of pain unfolded in Sigma's face as the Electric Spark once again viciously ate at him. His hands clenched and unclenched uncontrollably at the blast, his entire body spasming with the energy. X's frown grew wider, and his eyes burned at the wrath.

"You sick monster." X fired another shot into Sigma's slackened body, scorching it again. Sigma at last screamed in pain, but X continued, landing a thick punch along his arm and knocking the deadly saber loose. It turned itself off as it rolled to a halt, and then Sigma was unarmed. "GET UP!" X screamed, kicking Sigma off of his feet. The devastated Sigma could not respond, but as his stomach wrenched at the blow, he was knocked into the air, and his neck clenched tightly by X. Another shot into his gut made Sigma's hands dig fingerprints into themselves. X lowered the now immobile Sigma to eye level, letting his orbs burn into Sigma's own pained eyes.

"You are not a Hunter, Sigma. You are a maverick. I am the Hunter. A world in which you were the last Hunter would not exist. Your regime has ended, you sick monster." Sigma's face tightened up as he took a short raspy breath.

"X! Before-before you kill me, I have to know one thing: What will you do after I am finished? How can you live with our blood-my blood-on your hands?" X took a calm blink of thought, during which his pose lessened. Sigma grinned sardonically and braced one of his legs for a vicious kick. 

But the kick never occurred. X knew what was coming, and another blast into Sigma's stomach stopped the attack. Sigma's face finally crumpled completely into pain, and X's became full stone.

"I can live with it because the lives I took were not innocent. The lives I took had taken many more than I ever could. When you are in Hell Sigma, I want you to know this; I fought to stop the death. No one mourns the death of a tyrant. But you killed innocents. And for that, your punishment can be only one thing. No less of a sentence than you have ever passed. DEATH." X threw Sigma high into the air, the limp metallic body floating as a rag in the wind. A roar from X rose, the last Hunter making a dash to the wall and leaping off of it. He met Sigma in midair, releasing a triple blast of his Electric Spark. Sigma's systems went critical, but X added the last bit of punishment to it; a dropkick into the ground.

The last of Sigma exploded when the crumpled and overloaded metal slammed into the ground, the fusion generator within at last succumbing to the effects of the paralyzing Electric blasts and becoming the volatile denizen of destruction that it was. The explosion took all of Sigma, save his pathetic head that rolled to a stop inches from where the rest of his body had vaporized in the corona of the fusion fury.

The last sounds of the room stood quiet, and at last X breathed deeply.

It was done. Sigma was destroyed. The humans were safe, and the worst maverick threat of all time had gone up with its leader. X knelt down, picking up the undamaged saber of Sigma's and taking hold of it in his right hand. It felt out of place, and so X gingerly placed it on his back, having his systems take hold of it by the electromagnetic attraction. Zero had wanted this weapon as his own-

Now, all X could do was return the great beam saber to Maverick HHQ, as the final momento of Sigma's tyranny halted. He looked down and shook his head sadly.

"Zero, you'd be proud of me. But I'd rather have you alive than in my mind."

It never occurred to X to look over to the decapitated head of Sigma. The dying head, its eyes closing slowly in the final cycles of existence as Sigma sadly thought of his failure.

One Hunter had done this. And it had been X-X, the founder of their race, no less! That had done it. 

But Sigma's death was not to be foretold in a match with his normal body. Now, the machinery of Vile's, the final weapon in the fortress came to life. It's scanners showed that Sigma was fading-fading fast. So, it sprang to life, sending down metallic tendrils that grasped the metallic head and pulled it up. Life had to be fed to its master, and soon! Sigma's head plugged into a socket that seemed built to hold exactly that object, pushed in by the tendrils before they sunk back into the slots of the hidden armor. 

New life flooded into Sigma's mind, and he laughed in relief and insanity. Vile's last plan had worked. Sigma even remembered what Vile had said. 'If they manage to obliterate you, it ain't the end of your reploid mind.' Now, that cryptic and annoying message rang so true.

Sigma was no longer himself. He flipped the lights on in the dark room, surprising X. X looked up in surprise, a glance which soon became utter fear as he saw what was before him. A massive purple dog-like robot, its haunches swinging about lazily in arcs, ready to smash him aside with little difficulty. And the head looked the most dangerous, with a massive gun of some kind embedded in the mouth.

But it was who was IN the head that frightened him. Sigma had been revived, and now was tenfold as strong.

"Saints and marshmallows-Sigma's still alive?!" Sigma looked down at him oddly, before grinning angrily.

"Oh, I am no longer 'Sigma,' X. I am something more." A massive paw swung down from above, one which X barely saw coming. An ungraceful leap to the side saved X from instant death, but his worried face gave him little comfort. An angry Sigma laughed insanely. "I am The Forever Sigma!" The now demonic maverick looked down at X, a calm fury burning inside of him. "And now it's payback time."

X stood frozen in place, unable to comprehend it. And that was when the cannon in the giant robot's mouth activated, whining angrily before releasing the blast of plasma energy at the tiny foe at its feet.

The amount of power that single attack produced was incredible. X had never seen such hateful power without a long period of charging. The plasma blast started at one end of the floor, skimming along with a speed that seemed all but impossible. And X, stunned beyond any ability to fight back, did all he could.

He ran.

Dashing away from the horror behind him, X jumped onto the wall and slammed his body upwards. Finally, he was clear of the danger below. But as the closest paw swung down to take a hack at him, X realized in desperation Sigma had him massively outgunned.

The massive mitt connected with X, slamming him against the surface he had been using to avoid the attack in the first place. And not only that, but the damage it had caused was extensive. X took a fraction of a second to look up his internal operations energy. It had gone from 95% to 62% in less time than it took a human to blink. X shook his head, trying to shake off the sudden dizziness in his head.

"X, no matter where you go, I will destroy you!" Sigma laughed happily, pushing the paw below X. X looked down in shock, wondering what attack would come next. He saw a slight flash of light below, and then a massive Thunderbolt raged from the metallic hand's surface. Up and down the blast went, hitting X with a devastating attack. Now X realized how much danger he was in.

"No-32%? I'll die in the next blast. Gotta-drain a Tank." X wheezed. The aftereffects from only two attacks had him effectively down. But as he drained a Sub-Tank, his energy crept back up to full, and he shook his head. He only had three more of those. Then-

Then he was dead. And he would have failed. But X was strong of spirit, if anything. All his exterior strength came with anger. But inside himself still existed the same steely determination that had been with him since he had opened his eyes to look at Cain, peering inside with that wide smile at him and his capsule.

"You haven't won yet, Sigma!" X screamed angrily at the top of his lungs. He began to charge his Buster, allowing it to reach full power as he hung on the wall. Sigma frowned for a moment before swinging the paw upwards, but X was now too fast and too pumped to be stopped.

The paw stopped where X had been moments ago, but X was soaring through the air in a dash jump, right at the massive head of Sigma. Sigma saw him coming, but none of his attack would reach the Hunter in time. X released the massive Purple Blast Light's X-Buster capsule had bestowed upon him-

And hit the head full on. But it did little damage. As a matter of fact, it did little to none. Sigma blinked for a moment before looking down at the panting Hunter, still charging up for another blast. Sigma laughed.

"You are almost destroyed by two of my attacks, and the best you have to offer me barely makes a scratch in my armor?" X glared angrily at Sigma before reaching behind him with his other hand and taking the saber to bear.

"Then let's see how your wonder weapon works." Sigma's eyes flashed in surprise for a moment, and genuine concern lit his face. That beam saber was powerful, able to slice through things a normal X-Buster shot could never even scratch. X hit the trigger button on the shaft, waiting carefully for his chance. The green blade thrummed into life, the angry energy within contained by the fluorescent electromagnetic shielding that also gave it its shape. In the semi-dark interior of the lair, it also gave X's face a haunting glow as well. But to get to where he could use the saber effectively, X knew he would have to make it up to the top for his jump.

And Sigma wasn't stupid. He'd be pulling out all the stops to prevent X from using the hallowed saber against the manifestation of Velguarder and Sigma combined. 

For a brief moment, the two beings in the room considered each other, each chewing at their jaws in restless wait. One Hunter and one maverick that wouldn't die. And only one would live.

Then Sigma began the attack. Unlike the plasma wave he had used before, now he tried a different attack. A roiling wave of flames replaced the plasma, just as deadly and far beyond the definition of overkill. X kept the saber in hand, at the same time charging down his Buster. He dashed onwards, taking a peek upwards. There it was-Sigma's right handed punch headed his way for a flattening. He stopped short of where the hand smashed into the ground and hopped onto the levitating hand. Using it as a stepping stool, he took a huge leap up onto the wall above. The hand rescinded instantly as Sigma roared at the quick move. X continued to leap upwards, totally unaware of the chaos unfolding below. His eyes turned towards the giant head, avoiding the glare of the flames which spewed from the mouth. The hand below began to whine insistently for another electrical discharge, and X heard it coming. He reacted with incredible speed, jumping off the wall and raising the saber high. A cry of death came from his mouth as he flung himself at the head-

And was then stopped cold as Sigma's other hand, coming through the very flame bath itself to remain undetected slammed into him, pushing the badly damaged Hunter back into the electrical current he had just avoided. His circuits screamed at his head, his mouth widening in a cry of pain as he fried from the inside out. He almost passed out at that dual attack, but X somehow managed to keep himself semi-functional. He felt himself fall onto the hand that had bitten him, and begin to roll off.

At that, his eyes snapped fully open and his Buster switched back into a hand, taking hold of the unsteady platform. The reason for doing so was obvious once X had looked below, and seen the ground underneath him become as black as pitch under the roiling flame attack. A quick scan of his systems proved to the ailing Hunter how strong and devious Sigma truly was. By some miracle, X had survived, hovering at 8% power. He instantly drained 2 Sub-Tanks, bringing himself to full health. But the external damage was even worse.

His glorious white armor, the only thing that kept him from being destroyed in one blow had been mangled. Wires and circuits underneath the plating bares to life, showing the inner workings and a few sparking connections. X cringed at it. No matter how much internal damage he could recover from with his Sub-Tanks, the external armor was there. If it was destroyed, it couldn't be GROWN. It was given to him in a capsule, and it held a strong alloy that was unproduceable anywhere else. Sigma's eyes flashed angrily.

"You can't win, Hunter." X looked up and shook his saber at the figure above with murder in his eyes. 

"Just wait, Sigma. Just wait." When the blast finished and the ground subsided to being a danger, Sigma's other fist swung at X in an attempt to split the Hunter in half. X dropped to the ground and dashed to the other side of the room. Sigma saw it and cried out in surprise. He halted the fist's now useless swing and sent it in a backhand at the wall. X was slightly faster than the mitt, and was jumping up the wall just above where the wall had been crushed in.

A dash jump off the surface of metal took X to the air once more. And then he fired his Buster again, in the massive purple blast. This time, the shot struck through, hitting the same chunk of weakened metal that he had hit before. It burned through the tough armored hide of the beast's neck, and X took his chance. He took the saber and screamed.

"THIS ONE'S FOR YOU, ZERO!" Sigma shut his eyes, for nothing he could do could stop X now. X drove the saber deep into the wounded hole of the beast's neck, hanging from the handle as it sliced in its calm fashion, eating through wires, controls, servos and the outside armor itself with as little difficulty as a 2 ton block would crush a Met.

The smoke was furious as it poured from the gape in the robot's massive neck, and Sigma screamed in pain. He brought his fists together, upwards in a massive swing at X.

X looked down angrily and pulled the saber out, holding on with his other hand to the hole as a support. When the arms of the hands came close, X sliced through them.

Two loud and dull thuds silenced the deadliest-and final-weapons that Sigma could have crushed X with. X glared and turned around, turning the saber off and putting it back on his backholder. His right hand morphed into the red and white Buster of destruction, and all of X turned a shade of reddish pink as he selected the Rolling Shield.

X spoke no final words to Sigma, and Sigma could only gasp in fear. And then X fired.

The blue and purple orb of energy hit the frayed wires and energy conduits, at last making the very vitals to the beast fail and explode.

The explosion severed Sigma's massive head from the beast and brought it crashing to the ground. And then it happened.

The whole base began to go up in smoke. Without the beast's head to control the powerful energy within the maverick fortress, the flying terror began to wail its klaxons and crumble apart. X fell to the ground, but climbed to his feet, his anger vanished with the siren's appearance. And Sigma looked over in pain, now at last defeated.

"X, why did you betray us?! Why? This could have been our world-our world!! X! WHY?!" the question struck him full on, more powerful than any blast that Sigma had ever hit X with. And the question haunted him, until at last he shook his head from the stupor. A piece of ceiling crashed at his feet, and X finally realized he could warp out of the base and escape.

So he did.

He landed on a high ledge overlooking the sea, a mile away from where the crumbling fortress of Sigma lit up the night sky with its explosions and crashed into the ocean. And then the final blast came, obliterating everything of the flying horror in white hot fury. The sound grew into a massive tremoring wave-

And vanished. The light faded, leaving only X, the cliff, and the night sky. And the realization of everything finally crashed onto him.

He fell onto the ground like he had been pushed. And perhaps he had. 

One Hunter. One final maverick. One victory achieved. And hundreds dead. Disaster had been averted, and there would be no human genocide. But at what cost?

X took off his helmet, looking at it for a very long moment. His eyes glazed over in tears as he looked at it, cracked and showing the signs of a terrible struggle. Even the crystal control chip cover had shattered, bits of it never to be retrieved. And the shattered red crystal was a perfect representation of his life. Shattered. Crystal chips-his friends-that would never return to him. Zero, Cancer, Jim Dacker and all the others that he knew.

The people he knew before he was a Hunter. A tear droplet fell onto the white and gold trim, and he screamed in a shriek of sadness and lost anger.

He threw his helmet as hard as he could, and it rolled to a halt inches from where it would have fallen off into the void below. He buried his head in his hands, feeling the black hair that he had not felt in so long underneath the discarded helmet.

"Zero-blast it, Zero, why'd you have to go and be a hero?" X sobbed. "How can I go on?" He shook his head again.

"How can I go on?" He looked down, and formed a Buster. This was his life now. A Hunter. Gone was the X he had longed to keep. No matter how hard he tried, from this point on he was a marked soul. Scarred for all eternity with the blood on his hands. But what did the future hold for one Hunter, in a world where the head of the ultimate threat had been defeated?

As he got up wearily and put his helmet back on, X decided to take the long way home. Walking back to Maverick HHQ at his own pace. Hopefully that would clear up the hazy, depressive fog in his muddled mind. But X knew some answers would never come to him.

Perhaps only his X-Buster knew for sure.

The walk home had been a long one, and X had been forced to drain his last Sub-Tank to fully heal the limp in his left leg. But in the blazing light of Ten in the morning, he stepped into the sliding doors of HQ. He shook his head and looked around. Now the base was fully rebuilt, and a fresh shipment of Hunters even bustled about close by. One turned about and gazed in shock at the weary individual before him. 

"What the-poor guy looks like a fallen angel." The reploid managed to erk out between his lips. X heard the comment, but paid no attention to it. He walked on, a zombie as he stepped into the Medical Bay.

Hazil looked up from a box of fluid filled vials in surprise, and then it changed into a gasp of horror.

"Sheeze-X, you look like hell!" X stopped in the doorway and threw Sigma's saber in a lazy arc at the box on wheels that served as the doctor. Hazil caught it easily and looked down in surprise. His glance became a mix between relief and sadness.

"So, you destroyed Sigma." X nodded his head slowly, too weary or too unwilling to speak. Hazil nodded. "Well, the bugger had it coming to him anyhow, you know."

Cain chose that moment to come limping into the room, and whistled at X. Hazil nodded.

"Yeah, the guy looks like crap." Cain sighed.

"So it's done, then. Sigma's gone. But even though the base is destroyed, there are still a bunch of rogue elements Sigma had sent off to every corner of the earth. The maverick threat isn't done for yet, X." X covered his head.

"I don't care. I just don't care anymore." He sat down. "I wish I could go back to the way things were. When Cancer was alive and we were happy with life. Now I take it." Cain sat down beside him and rubbed the Hunter's tender shoulder. X looked over into the weary eyes of the man who had spawned a revolution. Cain spoke slowly, choosing his words.

"X, you can't go back. We have to go on. Cancer's gone, and that's all there is to it. We burned his body to ashes, as well as his mind. You're part of the 17th now, under Zero." X's eyes flashed for a moment, then he bowed his head in sadness. Cain's mouth widened in the realization.

"Oh my God…Zero's not coming back, is he?" X nodded, and even the grizzled Hazil had to lean against the wall for support. No Zero? The war had indeed taken a terrible toll. Cain shook his head.

"Well, that does it, then. X, you're now the leader of the Maverick Hunters. You have to go on, to lead them and to keep the world safe from the threat of those who would destroy us all." 

X sighed and got up, closing his eyes and in one thought removing every piece of his armor and weaponry. He kept them stored as data, the same form which they had been given to him. Cain looked up, and Hazil confirmed the last vestiges of X's Hunter gear had vanished into the computer files.

"You're not going to keep the armor, are you X?" X shook his head.

"I'll keep what Doc Light gave me to start with. Everything else stinks of death. And that's one stench I'd like to forget." X walked over to the Medical Bay door and opened it up. He could hear Hazil talking to Cain softly.

"Cain, Zero will remembered fondly-as a hero." X swiveled around, and the final tinge of his anger vanished. Cain and Hazil looked at X in interest, and X's mouth drooped as a single tear crept into his eye. He motioned for Hazil to throw the saber at him, and Hazil did as requested. X caught the silver cylinder and held it in his hand.

"Guys, let me tell you something that I've learned from all of this." He blinked the tear away. "In war, there are no heroes-only mourners." He looked up at the lights, anxious for a different thing to look at than the prying faces of his two coworkers.

"I'll be in my quarters sleeping for the next week. Don't bother me." Cain nodded slowly, and even Hazil gave a grunt of approval. They wouldn't stop X.

X had a lot to deal with.

It had been hours ago since he had collapsed on his bed, placing the silver handled saber of Sigma's on his Television set. Laying on the bed, his blue armor gone in favor of a set of sleeping trunks and his bristly hair, he stared up at the ceiling. 

He wouldn't quit. There was still too much left to do, and Zero wouldn't approve of him being mopey all the time. X would have to get over it-and he was. At his own pace, slowly and through the entire process that he needed to go through to do so. He could feel his eyes begin to fade off-

And then his television set flashed on.

X jerked up in befuddlement, and the visage on the screen chilled him. Was he still dreaming? X couldn't determine where the reality of life existed anymore. It was Sigma, most likely a preprogrammed message. But what if-?

"You have won a temporary victory X, over a temporary body. But my spirit lives on. In time, I will find stronger bodies to inhabit, and then I shall return. I shall see you soon, X…very soon." X walked over, examining the set for a minute with steely eyes. Then he crouched down and pulled the plug on the TV set.

"If you are still alive Sigma…then bring it on." X said quietly. At last, the spirits of the dead could rest, knowing that X would be there to prevent another tragedy.

And ironically, even with the threat of Sigma's possible return from beyond the grave-

Even X soon found himself dozing off peacefully on his bed.

The greatest Hunter.

Asleep at last.


	17. Epilogue

**__**

MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

By Erico

EPILOGUE

On September 16th, in the year of 20XX-a brilliant scientist by the name of Dr. Thomas Light sealed a capsule which contained a wonderful new idea.

Or so it seemed.

What would you think if everything you took for granted about life and intelligence vanished in the blink of an eye? Suddenly, there is a new race on earth besides humans who hold sentient intelligence. Reploids, robots with immense strength and abilities superhuman-but also having the intelligence to think, feel and make their own decisions suddenly sprung up at every turn.

And how would you feel if you were one…the very first…well, MORE than the first. The prototype from which the plans were taken and a new race was created. How would you feel if you were Mega Man X, a being with no clue to your past, and no indication of your future? Enclosed in a world in which mavericks tarnished human/reploid relations, and ruthless Hunters were needed to keep the peace?

And…how would you feel if suddenly, this fragile world, this tiny spiderweb of sanity suddenly vanished beneath you? How would you feel if you were forced to turn on your own kind? What would your choice be?

X's was to fight, and therefore to end the First Maverick Uprising…The Sigma Conflict…the Hunter's Rebellion. X was whisked away into a world that numbed his mind, dulled his thoughts and turned into a wonderland of horror and madness and sorrow.

What does the sinister hand of fate hold in the cards for one being…one creature in a world of squabbling many? One thing is certain, the only thing that ever is in a world where it is not logic or reason or love that decides events…whoever you are, reploid, human, or prototype, like Mega Man X. One thing above all else, which became very clear to Mega Man X.

Like all of us in our own little bubbles…Mega Man X faces

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE


End file.
